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FINK ARTS UB8ARY
>'
From tlie Library of the g
Fogg J^uscum of An I
% Harvard Mmvcrsiiy t
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitizecl by
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A HISTORY
OF
ANCIENT SCULPTURE
BY
LUCY M. MITCHELL
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
INCLUDING SIX PLATES IN PHOTOTYPE
VOL. I.
NEW YORK
DODD. MEAD, AND COMPANY
1888
Digitized by VjOOQIC
fOQQ ART MUSEUM
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
A
VA^'1
^
Copyright, 1883,
By DODD, mead, AND COMPANY.
Barr PHntlof Hook, Kmnkfort •»* J»eo»» 8»»-f J*. Y.
Digitized by
•V
GoAg^^
TO THE MEMORY
OP THB
HON. GEORGE P. MARSH,
THIS WORK
IS GRATEFULLY AND REVERENTLY
DEDICATED.
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NOTE.
A Portfolio, containing reproductions in phototype of thirty-six
fnasterpieces of ancient art, and entitled Selections from Ancient
Sculpture, has been prepared by the cmthor, in order more amply
to illustrate the subject treated of in this work.
Published by Dodd, Mead, <Sf Company, New York, and Kegan
Paul, Trench, & Co., London.
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PREFACE.
Fragments of a great artistic past have come down to us, now torn from
their original surroundings, and wrapped in mystery to our changed modem
world. For centuries these monuments have lain buried beneath the soil, or,
when visible, have too often suffered sadly from neglect. Sundering from
this vast treasure what belongs to the plastic art, we find the sculptural
monuments widely scattered, and often hopelessly isolated, so that a feeling
of discouragement will sometimes come over one attempting to solve the
riddles propounded. Here it is that the archaeologist comes to our aid, with
his new-bom science, which dates hardly farther back than the days of
Winckelmann ; and bringing to bear upon his subject the patient labor of the r
excavator and of the conscientious collector, the resources of profound learn-
ing and of a comparative spirit, and the breadth of a scientific vision which
IS able to classify and group the sundered fragments, he makes the dis-
jointed members more and more parts of an organic whole.
Following, then, the guidance of the band of scholars who have so
gloriously commenced this task, I have attempted in the present work to
treat the sculptural monuments of the different nations of antiquity, arid to
build up some semblance of the stately fabric of old. Many, alas! are the
blocks still lacking to complete the stmcture of an exhaustive history of
ancient sculpture; but if we surround the mute monuments existing, with
the faiths out of which they spmng, and pour upon them the light of
national custom and thought, they will become eloquent witnesses to the
art-life of those remote ages.
The monuments preserved to us from Egypt, Chaldaea, Assyria, and
Persia; those left by the Phoenicians on many shores; and those found in
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VI PREFACE.
Asia Minor, Greece, on the islands of the iGgean, and in Italy, — form the
subject-matter of this work.
In choosing the historical method here pursued, no apology seems neces-
sary. It has long since been shown, not only that beauty in art has not
always existed, nor been at any time a sudden creation, but rather that it
has grown through the centuries, with the development of man's imagina-
tive and artistic powers. Moreover, by this historical method alone can
fair comparison be instituted between cruder and riper works, and light be
thrown backward and forward upon earlier and later monuments. Thus we
are enabled better to appreciate excellences wherever found, as well as to
grasp more fvdly the power and significance of the highest achievements.
As different localities, with varying endowments of race, show widely
differing works, the value of the geographical element, in treating of the
history of sculpture, is evident. Even in a land so small as Greece, there
seems to have been a marked diversity of power at one and the same
time, in different parts, some regions falling far behind others in the great
work of artistic creation. Consequently, as far as possible, each country
or district has here been treated by itself, and comparisons have then been
« drawn with the contemporary art of other regions. In this process,
although our knowledge of the once flourishing art-centres in the ancient
world is in many cases lamentably fragmentary, the monuments preserved
serve as trustworthy guides whose testimony will doubtless be supple-
mented by discoveries yet to be made.
In the present work, though familiar historical divisions have, as far as
possible, been observed, they have not been designated by numbers, but
according to some prominent characteristics. Thus, for instance, in Greek
history, for the usual "Third Period" has been substituted "The Age of
Pheidias and of Polycleitos." The general index has been prepared with
special regard to this historico-geographical plan of the work, the order
of the references under single heads following the course of history. A
skeleton-topic, as it were, is thus given, which may readily be filled out by
using the references to ancient and modem authors contained in the corre-
sponding pages of the text.
The system I have adopted in the spelling of Greek proper names has
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PREFACE. Vll
been in accordance with the following principle: With the exception of a
few words having well-established, frequently genuine, English forms, — in
which case, use has been made of these traditional forms, — the aim has
been to give the ancient spelling and pronunciation, as accurately as is
consistent with the values of English letters and with due regard to the
clear analogies of English spelling. A detailed statement of this system of
transliteration will be found on page 696.
The sources used in the preparation of this work have been of two
kinds, — the literary and the monumental. The literature comprises records
left us by Greek and Roman writers, and the works of modem scholars, in
whose front ranks stand the German archaeologists from the time of
Winckelmann down to our own day. The citations from ancient authors
are based upon Brunn's great fundamental work, "Die Geschichte der
Griechischen Kiinstler." The monuments consulted consist of the most
varied objects, from the tiny jewel and delicate vase-painting to the colossal
statue. These have been studied, as far as was possible, directly from the
originals ; but, when such were inaccessible, the best casts and photographic
reproductions have been used.
Since, in treating of works of art, description cannot by any possibility
supersede the sight of the artistic creations themselves, a strenuous efEort
has been made to secure suitable illustration. To bring before the reader
an accurate representation of some of the great masterpieces, a large num-
ber of subjects have been represented in six phototype plates contained in
the volume, as well as in a supplementary portfolio of twenty plates, entitled
"Selections from Ancient Sculpture," all of which were prepared by
Albert Frisch of Berlin. The remainder of the illustrations comprise wood-
engravings, and a very few photo-engravings. A large number of the finest
wood-engravings were prepared for me by the skilful artists of "The Cen-
tury Magazine," for a series of articles which appeared in 1882 in that peri-
odical. Others are by Peter Meurer of Berlin, to whose efforts is due any
excellence in most of the outline engravings, as well as in some of the
others carried out in full. In treating of so vast a subject, a few illus-
trations already current in trade have of necessity been employed, which
unfortunately fall short of what could have been desired.
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Vlll PREFACE.
It has been a source of great strength in the prosecution of this work,
that scholars and artists of different nationalities have volunteered and
given their aid most generously. To Professor von Duhn of Heidelberg, I
cannot sufficiently express my thanks for the revision of my proof-sheets,
and for imparting to me of his great fund of learning and experience, as
well as for allowing me the privileges of his Archaeological Institute during
the last year spent in the preparation of this work. For access afforded to
the University Library in Heidelberg, I am indebted to Professor Zange-
meister; and, for like opportunities in the Berlin Museum Library, to Dr.
Max Frankel. The continued personal kindness of both of these scholars
has been of incalcvdable service in the prosecution of a work requiring
resources of an extensive and varied nature. Nor should I fail to mention
the advantages enjoyed in the British Museum Library, and the unfailing
kindness of Mr. Gamett.
Besides, great favors with regard to the monuments have been con-
ferred upon me by the scholars in charge of the collections of antiquities.
Especially to Professor C. T. Newton of the British Museum, would I express
thanks for the kindness with which he has granted every request made,
even when it concerned the choicest fragile bronzes in his charge, as well
as for his ready and generous assistance in fmmishing the latest information
about the marbles, and for his ripe judgment upon many questions entirely
outside of the Museum. To Mr. R. S. Poole, Mr. Head, and Professor
Gardner, I am indebted for access to the treasures of the Medal Room,
and for encouragement in many different lines; and to Dr. Birch, for his
courtesy in what concerned the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities. The
kindness of the eminent Directors of the Berlin Museum — Dr. Schoene,
and Professors Curtius and Conze — made what would otherwise have been
a most difficult task a delightful one, and facilitated in every way the study
and reproduction of the monuments in their charge. To that Nestor of
Greek archaeology, Professor Brunn, and to his worthy disciples Dr. Furt-
wangler and Professor Milchhofer, I take pleasure in acknowledging the
gift of many inspiring thoughts, as well as many communications by letter,
which have been like jewels to be wrought into the sombre web of my
own recital. To my brother, Professor J. H. Wright of Dartmouth College,
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PREFACE. ix
I am indebted for the revision of my proof-sheets, verification of my refer-
ences to ancient authors, and preparation of the accompanying index of
classical citations, as well as for his suggestions with regard to the difficult
subject of the English spelling of Greek words. To my husband, I owe a
debt of gratitude, not only for assistance with his skilful pencil, but also for
his untiring vigilance in matters of criticism.
LUCY M. MITCHELL.
Marion, Massachusbtts, Sept 15, 1883^
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CONTENTS.
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Pagb.
Antiquity of Egypt. ^Historical Sources. — Character of the Land. — Influence of Climate and of
Natural Phenomena upon Ancient Inhabitants and their Art. — The Pharaoh, his Divine and
Absolute Character. — The Aristocracy. — Curious Beliefs with Regard to the Future Life. —
The Ka, — Importance and Durability of the Tomb and its Statuary. ~ Construction of the
Tomb. — lYitSerddb, — Tomb Reliefs. — Provision made for Funereal Services. — The Pyra-
mids.— Pyramid Temples. — Absence of Statues in the Pyramids. — The Sphinx. — The Mys-
terious Character of the Egyptian Gods. — The Multifarious Forms given them. — Animal-
headed Divinities. — Depressing Influence of Symbolism on Art. — Prosaic Character of
Egyptian Myth. — Materials used for Sculpture. — Absence of Marble. — Methods of Work-
ing.— The Attendant Difficulties. — Divisions of Egyptian History 3
CHAPTER H.
THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE.
Historical Introduction. — Funereal Character of Sculptures. — Oldest Statues from Gizeh. — Li^
likeness of Statues from this Age, and General Characteristics. — Ra-hotep and Nefert. —
Sheik-el-Beled, or Ra-em-ka, and his Wife. — Ra-nefer. — The Scribe of the Louvre. — Head
of Old Dignitary in the British Museum. — Dwarf in Boolak. — Other Statues. — Bronzes. —
Hollow Casting. — Groups. — Statues in Hard Stone. — King Chephren. — Variety in these
Oldest Works. — Freedom from Conventionality. — Stocky Forms. — Greater Freedom due to
Material, and to Desire for Exact Portraits. — Lack of Feeling or Expression in Faces. —
Statues of this Olden Time not Architectural. — Reliefs from Tomb of Ti. — Superiority of
Animal to Human Forms. — Wooden Panels from Tomb at Sakkarah. — Effects of Hiero-
glyphic Writing on Art. — Reason for Lowness of Relief. — Colors used. — Rarity of Repre-
sentations of Gods. — The God Thoth, Sinai. — The Great Sphinx 21
CHAPTER IIL
THE THEBAN EMPIRE.
Old Theban Empire. — Historical Introduction. — Change in Art — Abydos, its Tombs. — Beni-
Hassan and Sioot, Rock-hewn Tombs. — Colossi. — Conventionalism. — Shabti^ their Sig-
niflcance. ^ Reliefo of this Age. — Statues of Pharaoh. — Statues of Subjects. — Priest of
Ammon. — ^^/wwi/.^Hyksos Monuments. — The New Theban Empire. — Historical
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Xll CONTENTS.
Pagb.
duction« — Fluctuations of Art. — Size and Extent of Monuments. — Monolith of Rameses II.
— Tomb Temples, Private and Royal, their Contents. — Significance of their Reliefs. — Osiris.
— Absence of Strd&bs, — Funereal Temples. — Temple Reliefs. — Ramesseion. — Colossi in
Temples. — Memnon Colossi. ~ National Sanctuaries. — Temples of Luxor and Kamak, their
Statues. — Avenues of Sphinxes. — Lion Sphinxes. — Ram-headed Sphinxes. — Rock Temple
at Aboo-Simbel. — Colossi of Rameses the Great. — Statues of Gods in Temples. — Their
Mysterious Form and Numbers. — Statuettes in Private Houses. — Those in the Sand.—
Egyptians' Feeling with Regard to Desert Sand. — Sculptors' Aim at Portraiture. — Khoo-en-
aten. — Statue of Rameses II., Turin. — Rendering of Race Peculiarities. — Dancing Girl. —
Relief of Seti I. — Battle Scenes. — Causes of Shortcomings in Relief at this time. — Sculp-
tors. — Mertesen and Aoota. — Sculptors' Models. — Methods of this Age. — Rhumi . . 54
CHAPTER IV.
THE SAITIC AND LOWER EMPIRES.
Historicallntroduction. — \3hanges caused by the Nature of the Delta. — Structures of Brick.—
Art at Sa'is. — Greater Costliness of Material. — Elaborateness of Finish. — Absence of
Colossal Forms. — Ameneritis. — Statues at Sakkarah. — Reliefs more Varied and Graceful.
'—Cause of Conservatism in Egyptian Art. — Proportions of Statuary. — Decline of Egyptian
Sculpture from Time of Alexander 64
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
CHAPTER V.
CHALDiEA.
Mesopotamia in General. — Chaldaea. — Historical Sketch. — Clay Tablets. — Ancient Myths.— >
Cannes. — Izdhubar. — Titanic Races. — Cylinders illustrating Myths. — Babylonian Religion.
— Goddess Istar. — Her Statues and Statuettes. — Diminutive Remains. — Discoveries at
Tello. — Mounds. — Gudea. — Head found at Tello. — Hardness of Material of Remains.—
Traces of Egyptian Influence. — Independent Traits of Sculptures. — Subjects of Primitive
Reliefs. — Character of Works. — More Vigorous Works. — Statue of an Architect. — Excel-
lences of these Sculptures. — Later more elaborate Works. — Resemblances to Greek Archaic
Sculptures. — Cubes of Masonry and Contents. — Bronzes. — Influence of Chaldsean Art . 71
CHAPTER VI.
ASSYRIA
Natural Features of the Land. — Alabaster used for Sculpture. — Absence of Marble. — Charac-
ter erf the Assyrians. — History. — Paucity of Remains from the Oldest Time. — Remains near
Beyrout. — Remains from Second Period. — Nimroud. — Assur-nazir-pal's Palace. — A/n^'.—
Portal Guardians at Nimroud. — lions. — Mysterious Symbolism. — Union of High and Low
Relief. — Alabaster Slabs. — Prominence of the Monarch. — Colossal Winged Figures.— Ten-
dency to Ornamentation. — Prototypes of Greek Ornament — Bronze and Ivory Fragments.—
Balawat Gates. — Incrustation of Statues. — Ruins at Khorsabad. — Sargon's Palace. — Alar
baster Reliefs and Sculptural Adornment of Gateways. — Greater Size of Sculptures at Khor-
sabad.—Statues take the Place of Bulls at some Gates. — Incrustation of Palm-tree.—
Reliefs. — Glorification of Monarch. — Battle and Hunting Scenes. — Feasting. — Color. —
Last Period— Ruins at Koyunjik (Nineveh) and at Nimroud. — Greater Variety and Elab-
orateness of Sculpture. — Greater Naturalness. — Assur-bani-pal's Palace.— Little Progress in
Human Form. — Representations of Animals. — Hunting-scenes. — Fondness for Brutal
Scenes. — Egypt and Assyria contrasted 80
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CONTENTS. XlU
CHAPTER VII.
PERSIA.
Pace.
jffiltorical Sketch.— Oar Ignorance of Early Persian Sculptures. — Remains at Pasargadae.— So-
called Cyrus Tomb. — Remains at Behistan. — Eclectic Character of Persian Art. — Per-
sepolis. — Description of Ruins. — Relief of King strangling Monster. — Other Reliefs. —
Elaborate Representations of Thrones. — Rock Tombs of Persepolis. — Tomb of Darius.—
No Growth after Artazerxes Ochus. — Feebleness of Art from Time of Sassanid Rule . • 104
CHAPTER VIII.
PH(BN1CIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
Phoenicia. — Its Religion. — Goddess Mylitta. — Astarte. — The Phoenicians. — Spread of Trade,
and Position in Art — Renan's Discoveries. — Imitations of Egypt and Assyria. — Tomb at
Amrith. — Arados Relief. — Phoenician Griffin. — The Minor Arts. — Ivory Relief at Nimroud.
— Sites where Phoenician Wares are found. — Silver Bowl from Palestrina. — Chiusi Bowl.
— Lack of Progress. — Cyprus. — Occupied by Phoenicians and Greeks. — Influence of Egypt
and Assyria. — Mingling of Worship of Baal and Astarte with Greek Gods. — Discovery of
Remains. — Rudeness of Material used for Statuary. — Lack of Bronze Figures. — Metallic
Bowls. — Silver Bowl in Metropolitan Museum. — Frequency of Portrait Statues. — Represen-
tations of Deity. — Egyptian Types. — Heracles. — Figure combining Forms of Man, Lion,
and Bird. — Frequency of Female Figures. — Their Character. — Funereal Monuments.^
General Character of Cypriote Art. — Cypriote Type. — Age of Cypriote Statuary . . .110
CHAPTER IX.
THE EARUEST MONUMENTS IN ASIA MINOR.
Asia Minor. — Its Inhabitants. — Religion. — Earliest Art. — Affinities with that of Babylonia and
Egypt — Smaller Objects found. — Oldest Monuments with Hieroglyphics. — Cappadokia.—
Ruins of Boghaz Keui. — Ruins at Eu3ruk. — Ruins at Ghiaour Kalessi. — Ruins at Karabel.
^Figures called Egyptian by Herodotos. — Carvings on Mount Sipylos. — Andent Niobe. —
Figure discovered by Mr. Ramsay. — Hittite Art found at Ghurun, Alexandretta, on the Sonth-
em Coast, and Inland. — Distinctive Characteristics of this Art. — Conjectures of Sayce.—
' Phrygian Sculptures in Asia Minor. — Lions at Ayazeen 124
EARUEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
CHAPTER X.
PRE-HOMERIC AND HOMERIC ART.
Geographical Character of Greece. — Its Earliest Inhabitants. — The Pelasgians. — Earliest Reli-
gion of Greece. — Aryan and Semitic Elements. — Imageless Worship. — Crude Idols. —
Mythical Artists. — Daidalos. — Oldest Monuments. — Mykene Tombs. — Other Tombs. —
Their Contents. — Distinct Artistic Elements. — " Island Stones."— Geometrical Decoration.
— *• Red<:lay Ware." — Native Art — Art traceable to Asia Minor. — Union of Elements. —
Oriental Influence. — Ornament with Lions. — Ornament showing Phoenician Influence. —
Decorations at Orchomenos. — Mykene Sword-blades. — Party-colored Gold. — Supposed Egyp-
tian Influence. — Independent Characteristics. — Lion Gate at Mykene. ^ Homeric Descrip-
tions of Art Objects. — Achilles' Shield. — Heracles' Shield. — Statues of Gods mentioned
in Homer. — Value placed upon Phoenician Wares. ^ Influence of Poetry on Art. — Formation
of Artistic Types . »37 t
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XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL
ART AMONG THE GREEK PEOPLES DURING THE EIGHTH AND SEVENTH
CENTURIES aC.
Page.
The Greek Cities and Islands. — Corinthian Wares. — Colonization and Trade. — Coining. — Polit-
ical Changes. — Early Religion of Greece. — Influence of Poetry. — The Gods. — Artistic
Growth. — Altar Worship. — Significance of Votive Offerings. — Ancient Rites. — Their Influ-
ence.— Fabrication of Utensils. — Passage over from Oriental Forms. — Incrustation. —
Bronze Relief from Olympia. — Oldest Images. — Terra-cottas. — Individualization of the
Different Gods. — Literary Accounts. — Kypaelos Chest— Its Evidence of Advance. — Anal-
ogous Works. — No Images of Gods mentioned. — Artists mentioned. — Dibutades. — Glau-
C06. — Improvements in Bronze-working. — Beginnings of Working in Marble . . .162
ARCHAIC GREEK SCULPTURE.
From about 600 B.C. to about 450 B.C.
CHAPTER XII.
BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH OF SCULPTURE IN MARBLE DURING THE SIXTH
CENTURY B.C.: ASIA MINOR AND THE ISLANDS.
Introductory Historical Sketch. — Increase of Temple Structures. — Marble, Bronze, and Chrys-
elephantine Statuary. — Athletes. — The lonians. — Decline of Asia Minor. — Colonization. —
Changes in Society. — Characteristics of Art. — Geographical Division. — Ionian Art in Asia
Minor and the Islands. — Artists. — Bathycles' Throne. — Bion of Clazomenai. — Endoios. —
Monuments from Asia Minor. ^Statues at Branchidae. — Temple Sculptures at Ephesos.—
Sculpture at Assos. — Lykian Sculpture. — Harpy Monument. — Character of its Art. — The
Islands. — Naxian and Parian Marble. — Artists.— Statues by Naxian Artists. — Statue found
on Delos dedicated to Artemis. — Characteristics of these Naxian Works. — Colossus at
Delos.— Small Bronze from Nazos. — Bronze Patina, — Relief by Alienor. — Statues from
Thera.— Statues found on Delos. — Contrast to Works found at Athens. — Sculptors from
Chios. — Winged Figure by Archermos. — Artists at Samos. — Rhoicos and Theodoros.—
Theodoros* Works. — Samian Sculptures 175
CHAPTER XIII.
BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH OP SCULPTURE IN MARBLE DURING THE SIXTH
CENTURY B.C. {condwUd): GREECE AND SICILY.
Art in Crete and Peloponnesos. — Traditional Art — Rude Cretan Bronzes. — The Scholars of
Dipoinosand Skyllis. — Discoveries of Homolle. — Gitiadas. — Argos and Sikyon. — Argive
Works at Olympia. — Similar Works in Dodona and Etruria. — Apollo of Tenea. — Monu-
ments from Sparta. — Chrysapha Relief, etc. — Significance of these Sculptures. — Their
Growth and Artistic Features. — Attempts at Portraiture in Lakedaimonian Art — Sculptures
from Meligii, Selinus, and Kythera. — Sculptures at Olympia. — Colossal Head of Hera. —
Bronze Head of Zeus. — Figure of Zeus. — Treasury of Megara. — Its Primitive Style. —
Archaic Art in Boeotia. — So-called Apollo of Orchomenos. — Relief from Tanagra. — Signifi-
cance of these Works. — Their Style and Origin. — Foreign Influences in Attica — Use of
Foreign Stone. — Athena by Endoios. — Attic Tomb-sculptures. — Marble Head of Athena
from Acropolis. — The Attic Type. — Fragmentary Statues from the Acropolis. — Sphinx from
Spata. — Tombstone Figure from Athens. — Relief from Themistocles* Wall. — Tombstones
of Aristion and Lyseas. — Peculiarities of Attic Tomb-reliefs. — Relief in Advance of Statuary.
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CONTENTS. XV
Pagb.
— ^Cgina. — Head from Sabouroff Collection. — Art in Sicily and Southern Italy. — Sculp-
tures from Selinus. — General Characteristics of Art at this Time. — Influence of Contem-
porary Customs on the Artist 201
CHAPTER XIV.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE, PROM ABOUT 500 TO ABOUT 450 B.C.: ASIA
MINOR AND THE ISLANDS.
Introductory. — State of Asia Minor and Greece at the Commencement of the Fifth Century B.C.
— Triumph of the Greeks over the Persians. — Its Results. — Exalted Position of Athens. —
The Development of Philosophy, Poetry, and Art. — The Athletic Games. — Their Antiquity.
^Revival of Olympic and other Games. — Honors awarded to the Victors. — Influence of
Games on Art — The Temple. — Its Purposes. — Plan of the Structure. — Its Adornments
and Great Statue. — Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Orders. — Influence of Painting. — Ionian
Sculptures. — Lykian Sculptures. — Sculptures in the British Museum. — Leucothea Relief.—
Sculptures and Terra-cottas from the Islands. — Thasos Reliefs. — Philis* Tombstone.—
iEgina. — Its Political Position. — Traditional Character of its Art — Its Early Artists.—
Preference for Bronze. — Importance of Statues of Athletes. — Glaukias, Gallon, and Onatas.
— Remains of Sculpture at Olympia. — Onatas' other Works. ^ iEginetan Marbles at Munich. —
Sculptures of West Pediment— Their Advanced Archaism. — .Sculptures of East Pediment
— Their Superiority to those of the West Pediment — Difficulty of forming a Correct Impres-
sion of these Marbles. — Their Authors. — Their General Characteristics. — Dodona Bronze.
— Strangford Apollo. -» Marble Tombstone from iEgina 223
CHAPTER XV.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE {cotUmued)', PELOPONNESOS, NORTH GREECE,
SOUTHERN ITALY, AND SICILY.
Argive Masters. — Ageladas' Works. — Other Argive Masters and their Works.— Argos and
Sikyon. — The Brothers Canachos and Aristocles. — Canachos' Apollo. — Corinthian Art —
Tegean Bronze Statuette. — The Vatican Girl-runner. — Olympian Sculptures. — Temple of
Zeus. — Its Metopes. — Sculptures <si East Pediment — Their Style. — Sculptures of West
Pediment — Their Style. — Their Time.— The Sculptors of these Marbles. — Theories of
Brunn. — Variety of Influences at Olympia.— The Place of these Sculptures in Art — Sculp-
tors in North Greece. — Monuments from Boeotia. — Remoter Provinces. — Art illustrated
from Coins. — Relief from Abdera. — Relief from Pharsalos.— Tombstones from Thessalo-
nica. — View of Brunn. — Sculptures in Sicily and Southern Italy. — Pythagoras of Rhegion. —
Improvements made by this Master. — Paucity of Remains from Southern Italy. ^ Bronze of
Paestum. — Verona Bronze. — Monuments from Selinus 249
CHAPTER XVI.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE {eoHciudid)i ATTICA.
Prominence of Attica. — Character of its Population. — National Customs, etc. — Influence of
these on Art. — Themistocles. — Kimon. — Polygnotos. — Statues of Tyrant-slayers. — Critios
and Nesiotes. — Hegias. — Notices of Artistic Activity. — Existing Monuments. — Relief of
Charioteer mounting Chariot. ^ Relief of Hermes Criophoros. — Calamis and his Works. —
Myron and his Works. — His Marsyas. — His Animals. — Myron's Cow. — The Discobolos. —
The Athlete dropping Oil.— Athlete of the Vatican. — General Characteristics of the Art of
this Period 283
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THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
From about 450 B.C. to about 400 B.C.
CHAPTER XVI L
PHEIDIAS AND HIS WORKS.
Page.
Fheidias' Youth. — Condition of Athens. — Pheidias' Teachers. — His Early Works. — Amazon. —
Statnesof Athena. -» Athena Promachos. — Olympic Zeus and its Sculptural Adornments.—
Its Poetic Thought— Reflexes of this Work. — Otricoli Head, etc. — Pheidias under Perides.
— Art^ctivity in Athens. — Change in the Times. — Athena Parthenos. — Its Vicissitudes.-
Description of the Statue. — Its Shield, etc.— Its Artistic Character.— Other Statues.—
Copies* — Roman Reports concerning Pheidias. — Other Works attributed to Pheidias. — His
Fate 299
CHAPTER XVIII.
SCHOLARS AND CONTEMPORARIES OF PHEIDIAS AND OP MYRON.
Agoracritos. — Colotes. — Theocosmos. — Thrasymedes. — Alcamenes. — His Works. — Other
Sculptors. — Lykios. — Myronic Statues. — Cresilas. ^ Statues of Amazons. — Portrait of Peri-
cles. — Strongylion. — pallimachos. — Demetrios. — His Characteristics. -» Other Artists • 318
CHAPTER XIX.
ATTIC SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.:
THE PARTHENON.
The Sacred Acropolis. — The Destruction and Rebuilding of its Holy Places. — Vicissitudes of
the Parthenon. — Changes made in Byzantine Times. — Destruction by the Venetians.— -Wide
Dispersion of Fragments. — Rescue of Elgin Marbles. — Carrey's Drawings. — Extent of Sculp-
tures of Parthenon. — The Metopes. — Diversity of their Style. — Compared with Olympia
Marbles. — The Frieze. — Subjects treated.— The Gods. — Sacrificial Scene. — Panathenalc
Procession. — The Sculptures of the Pediments. — Reports of the Ancients. — Present Condi-
tion.— East Pediment — Central Scene. — Remaining Figures. — West Pediment. — Its Sub-
ject. — Tragic Fate of the most of its Sculptures. — Athena Group. — Poseidon Group. —
Characteristics of Style and Treatment of Pedimental Sculptures. — Superiority to many Great
Works of Antiquity. — Admirable Adaptation to Temple Adornment. — Influences which
produced these Achievements in Sculpture. — Opinions concerning them. — Their Charm not
dependent upon Material used. — Majesty of the Thought ........ 327
CHAPTER XX.
ATTIC SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.
Theseion at Athens. — The Subjects of its Metopes.— The Subjects of its Frieze.— The Erech-
theion.— Its Inscriptions and Sculptural Remains.— Its Portico. — The Caryatidac- Tem-
ple of Athena Nike. — Its Frieze.— Description of its Reliefs. — Comparison with the
Theseion.- Balustrade of Temple of Athena Nike. — Its Reliefs. — Their Style. — Influence
on Later Works. — Votive Reliefs of this Age. — Reliefs on South Side of Acropolis, from
Shrine to Asclepios and his Associate Gods. — Humbler Monuments from these Shrines.—
Description of some of the Earliest of these Shrines. — Reliefs on Public Tablets. — Sources
of their Designs. — Tombstones. — Stele from Peiraieus . 365
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CHAPTER XXL
SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C^ OUTSIDE
OF ATTICA POLYCLEITOS.
Pace.
Polycleitos. — Argoe as his Field of Activity. — His Doryphoros. — Traces of the Original in Exist-
ing Works. — Relief from Argos. — Head from Herculaneam. — Changes in Types to repre-
sent Gods. — Polydeitos' Diadumenos. — Polycleitos distinguished from a Later Sculptor of
the Same Name. — Other Athletes, Canephorae, etc., by this Master. — Boys playing at Knuckle-
bones. — Polycleitos' Heracles. ^ His Amazons. — His Gods. ^ Hera. — Polycleitos as Arch-
itect— Works at Epidauros. — Sculptural Remains from that Place. — Reputed Skill as
Bronze-caster, etc. — His Great Care in his Work. — His Treatise on Art — His Canon. —
Compared with Pheidias. — Polycleitos' Scholars. — Other Argive Masters. — Pausanias* Ac-
count of the Temple of Hera at Aigos. — Its Remains. ^ Reliefs from Argos .... 584
CHAPTER XXI L
SCULPTURE OUTSIDE OF ATTICA DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH
CENTURY {c^Hcludid).
Artists of this Period. ^ Phigaleia Sculptures.— Apollo Epicurios. — Metopes. — Frieze. — Its
Subjects. — Passionateness in Treatment — Contrast to Attic Friezes. — Affinities in Style. —
Sculpture in other Parts of Peloponnesos. — Paionios of Mende. — His Nike.— -Its Discov-
ery.— Conjectural Restoration. — Description of the Nike. — Its Boldness, etc — Comparison
with other Works. — Affinities with Nereid Monument. — Art on the Islands. — Delian Sculp-
tm'es. — Comparison drawn between them and Paionios' Nike. — Explanation of Resemblances
and Differences. -— Colotes. — Lykia. — Sculptures from Xanthos. — Tomb. — Peculiarities of
Style. — Statuary. — The Nereids. — Their Significance. — Sculptures of Herodn at Gjdlbaschi.
— Subjects. — Deeds of Ulysses depicted. — Other Scenes. — Influence of Painting. — Resem-
blance to Style of Nereid Monument — Art in Southern Italy and Sicily. — Patronage of Art
by the Tyrants. — Temple-ruins at Acragas. — Ruins at Selinus.— The Metope representing
Fate of Actaion.— General Review of this Period 397
VOL. 11.
THE AGE OF SCOPAS, PRAXITELES, AND LYSIPPOS.
From about 400 B.C. to about 323 B.C.
CHAPTER XXIII.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION AND EARLIEST ATTIC SCULPTORS OF THE
FOURTH CENTURY B.C.
Changes in Attica at the Beginning of this Period. — Political Decline of Athens.— Condition of
Attica during Time of Alexander.— Private Patronage. — Attic Sculptors in Foreign Parts.—
Influence of Peloponnesian War. — New Elements in Society and Art.- Change in Character
of Subjects. — Susceptibility of Greeks to Impressions through the Eye. — Sculptors' Grasp
of the Spirit of the Times. — Kephisodotos. — His Works. — His Activity in Arcadia. — His
Eirene. — Greater Emphasis of Emotion than in Pheidian Age. — Other Sculptors ... 437
CHAPTER XXIV.
PRAXITELES AND HIS WORKS.
Praadteles.— His Versatility and Productiveness. — Probable Duration of his Career. — His Her-
mes at Olympia.— Description of the Statue. — Comparison with other Works. — Si
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this Work. — The Babe Dionysos. — Resemblances to Kephisodotos' Eirene. — Group of Si-
lenos and Dionysos. — Evidence of Advance in Composition. — Praxiteles' Works in Athens. —
His Satyr, "Marble Faun.** — Similarity to Hermes. -— Praxiteles' Works in Megara, Boeotia,
and Phokis. — Eros. — Statues in other Places. — Aphrodite of Cnidos.— Head from Olym-
pia. — Apollo Sauroctonos.-;- Reports concerning other Statues. — General Characteristics of
Pnudtelean Art 4j6
f
CHAPTER XXV. ■
SCOPAS AND HIS ASSOCIATES.— THE MAUSOLEUM. |
Scopas' Early Activity. — Temple of Athena Alea. — Its Renuuns. — Their Style. — Other Works
of Scopas in Peloponnesos.— Scopas' Works in Athens and other Parts of Greece. — |
Bacchante. — Apollo. — Nereids. — Scopas at Ephesos. — Works carried to Rome. — Asso- {
dates. — Leochares. — His Work for Alexander and others. — Figures of Gods. — Ganymede. {
— Bryaxis. — Timotheos. — The Carians. — Mausolos and Artemisia. — Halicamassos. — The
Mausoleum. — Its Ruins. — Description of Remains. ^Varying Excellence of these. — Prob- •
able Arrangement — Influence of these Sculptures on Later Art. — Mausolos' Portrait — i
Style of these Sculptures from Halicamassos 455
CHAPTER XXVI.' I
I
THE NIOBE GROUP. — ATTIC SCULPTORS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C
i
Miobe Myth.— Niobe Marbles.— Their Date. — Description.— Artistic Character and Thought
— Widely scattered Traces. — Artists of the Age of Scopas and Praxiteles. — Silanion.—
Euphranor 475
CHAPTER XXVII.
EXTANT ATTIC SCULPTURES OF THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C
Head from Southern Slope of Acropolis. — Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. — Theatre of Dio-
nysos.— Statue of Sophocles. — Silen from Theatre of Dionysos. — Origin of Satyr and Silen
Types. — Attic Tombstones. ^ Funereal Rites. ^Illustrated on Vases. — Variety in Monu-
ments.— Tombstones with Sirens, etc. — Variety in Reliefe on Tombs. ^Relief of Damasis-
tratc. — Ancient All-Souls' Day. — Dead represented in Paintings, as seated in their Temples.
— Ceremonies about Tombs. — Increased Luxury in Tombstones. — Repetition of Same Type.
— Tombstone of Polyxene. — Tombstone of Mother with Infant — Tombstone of Amenocleia.
— Tombstone of Hegeso, compared with Tombstone from Peiraieus. — Interpretation of
Scenes on Tombstones. — Ideal rendering of every-day Scenes. — Lack of Realism in Treat-
ment usual.— Reliefs representmg Repasts. —Z^iy/^«^shaped Tombstones.— Votive Reliefs.
— Vignettes on Public Decrees .4S4
CHAPTER XXVIIL
LYSIPPOS AND THE ARGIVE-SIKYON SCHOOL.
Artists in Argos. — Subjects treated. — Art in Sikyon. — Lysippos. — Reports concerning him.*-
Multitude of his Works. — His Zeus. — Poseidon. — Cairos. — Representations of Lesser
Gods. — Herades. — Portraiture. — Portraits and Statues of Alexander. — Attempts to trace
Lysippos' Originals in Later Works. — Other Portraits.— Athletes.— Apoxyomenos. — Pro-
portions of this Statue. — Lysippos' Success in representing Animal Life.— Characteristics of
his Art— Lysippos' Brother Lysistratos 5^8
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CHAPTER XXIX.
DIVERS SCULPTORS AND MONUMENTS FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE GREEK
WORLD DURING THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C.
Pagb.
Prominence of Sparta. — B<sotia under Epaminondas. — Arcadia. — Messene. — Damophon. —
Other Artists of this Age. — Lion of Chaironeia. — Sculptured Reliefs. — Tanagra Figurines.
— Their Diversity. — Their Affinity with Other Works, — Art in Sicily. — Tarentum and Siris
Bronxes. — Eros and Psyche in Berlin. — Art on the Islands and in Asia Minor. — Cnidian
Remains ^-Demeter. — Cnidian Lion. — Remains from Temple of Ephesos. — Subjects of
Sculptured Columns 520
THE HELLENISTIC AGE OF SCULPTURE.
From about 323 B.C. to about 133 B.C.
CHAPTER XXX.
INTRODUCTION.— SCULPTURE IN GREECE AND SAMOTHRAKE.
Features of the Hellenistic Age. — Wide Spread of Greek Influence. — Realism in Art. — Asiatic
Influences.— Pageants. — Hephaistion's Funeral Pyre. — Sculptures associated with Land-
scape. — Art in Attica. — Artists. — Kistophoros of Fitzwilliam Museum. — Dionysos. ^
Tombstones. — Tower of the Winds. — Art in Peloponnesos. — Artists. — Sikyon. — Chares.
— Olympia. — Athlete's Head. — Small Monuments. — Relief of Polybios. — Art in Mace-
donia.—Pottery. — Samothrake. — Its Buildings, etc. — Nike of Samothrake . . •54'
CHAPTER XXXI.
SCULPTURE IN ASIA MINOR. — PERGAMON.
Common Resemblance of the Sculpture of this Time. — History of Pergamon. — It^ Ruling
House. — The Galatians. — Artists mentioned. — Battle Monuments. — Temple of Athena
Polias. — Statues representing Galatians. ^ Ludovisi Group. — Dying Galatian. — Discussion
of the Origin of this Work. — Attalos* Gifts to Athens. — Small Pergamon Statues of Gala-
tians.— Pergamon Sculptures in Berlin. — Great Activity under Eumenes. — Temples on
Acropolis of Pergamon. — The Great Altar. — Present State of Ruins. ^ The Great Altar
referred to in Scripture. — Humann's Excavations. — Description of Altar. — Subjects of its
Sculptures. — Reliefe of Gods and of Giants. — The Zeus Group. — Goddess hurling Snake-
bound Vase at the Enemy. — Characteristics and Variety of these Sculptures. — Style. — Dif-
ferent from Dying Galatian, etc — Wonderful Mastery of Technique. »- Pictorial Character.
— Resemblances to Other Works. — Sources used by Pergamon Artists. — Who they were. —
Small Frieze. — Its Myth. — Subjects treated. — Position of these Works. — Other Buildings
and Statuary at Pergamon. — Copies of Pergamon Art — Priene. — Influence of Pergamon. —
Tralles. — Famese Bull. — The M3rth. — Resemblance to Pergamon Art — Its Artists.—
Venus of Melos. — Its Discovery and Present State. — Compared with Other Works.^ Perga-
mon Head.— Tralles Aphrodite 561
CHAPTER XXXII.
SCULPTURE IN RHODES, SICILY, AND THE ORIENT.
Political State of Rhodes. — Its Colossus. — Patronage of Art. — Artists. — Laocoon. — The Myth.
— Its Rendering in Art. — The Original Pose. — Emphasis of Physical Pain. — Resemblance
to Pergamon Giant — Its Date. — Art in Sicily. — In Egypt. — Mesopotamia and Syria.—
Tomb of Antiochos on Nemrfid Dagh. — Greek Sculpture in India.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
OTHER SCULPTURES TRACEABLE TO THE HELLENISTIC AGE.
Pacb.
Influences of the Hellenistic Age upon Art. — Illustrated by Works of Sculpture. — Representa-
tion of Conunon Scenes. — Childhood. — Boy with Goose. — Boy extracting Thorn from Foot.
— Changed Character ci Mythological Subjects. — Satyrs. — Statues of Aphrodite. — Sleeping
Forms. — Menelaos and Patroclos. — Marsyas. ^- Mourning Woman in Florence. — Head of
Dying Woman. — Bronze Head of British Museum. — ApoUo Belvedere and its Cognate Stat-
ues.— Its Date. — Artemis of Versailles. — Seated Lady of Torlonia Collection. — Portraiture.
—Bronxe Head from Kyrene.— Portrait-Statues of Aristotle, etc. 6io
SCULPTURE IN ANCIENT ITALY AND UNDER ROMAN DOMINION,
CHAPTER XXXIV.
ANCIENT ITALIAN ART.
Early Greek and Phoenician Influence among Italians. — Monuments found near Bologna. —
Mystery hanging over Etruscans. — Their Character as manifested in their Art.— Earliest
Bronze Works, Importations. — Crudeness of early Etruscan Work. — Artists.— Tombs. —
Terra-cotta Masks and Figures. — Contents of Tombs. — Or>^'. — Cinerary Urns. — Ash-
chests. — Sarcophagi. — Genii. — Lack of Artistic Style. — Greek Myths represented. — Sculp-
tured Tombstones. ^Objects of pure Greek Origin 633
CHAPTER XXXV.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SCULPTURE UNDER THE ROM ANS. — KNOWN ART-
ISTS AND THEIR WORKS.
Etruscan and Greek Influence. — Wax Images of Ancestors. — Honorary Statues. -» Influence oi
Greek Art after Roman Conquest.— Transportation of Sculptures and Paintings to Rome.
— Roman Opinion of the Fine Arts. — Portraits receiving Divine Honors. — Boundless Dis-
play.— Roman Gods. — Representations of them. ^Artists. — Slave Labor.— Multiplicatioa
of Copies.^- Cheap Material. — Venus di Medici. — Subjects of Sculpture. — New Attic
School. — Artists. — The Belvedere Torsa — Famese Heracles. — Sosibios Vase. — Pasiteles.
— Archaistic Art. ^ Group called Orestes and Electra. — Venus Genetriz. — Artists from Asia
Minor. — Borghese Warrior.— Reliefs 644
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SCULPTURAL MONUMENTS IN THEIR HISTORICAL SEQUENCE, FROM THE
GOLDEN AGE UNDER AUGUSTUS (29 B.C-14 A.D.) TO THE FALL OF ART
UNDER CONSTANTINE (306-337 A.D.).
Roman Portraiture.- Heroic Portraits. — Portraits of Ladies and others. — Augustan Age of
Portraiture. — Altar of Peace. — Portrait-Statue of Augustus. — Reliefs from Claudius' Arch*
— Arch of Titus. — Trajan's Forum.— Sculptures of Trajan's Arch. — Unfinished Statue o£
Barbarian Captive.— Trajan's Column. — Powerful Details, but Lack of Nobility of Style.—
Relief of Victory. — The Brescia Victory. — Hadrian's Liberal Patronage of Art. — Antinous
Relief in Villa Albani. — Use of Hard and Costly Materials. — Decline in the Time of the An-
tonines. — Illustrated by Portraits. — Apotheosis of Antoninus. — Activity in Time of Marcus
Aurelius. — Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. — Greek and Roman Sarcophagi. — Ama-
lon Relief. — Rapid Decline after Commodus. — Arch of Septimius Severus. — Constantine's
Arch. — Sarcophagus of St Helena. — Decline in Rome. — Art Tradition in Provinces. . 670
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CONTENTS. xxi
APPENDIX.
Page.
Noras AND Refxrkncks 697
Indsx of Citations from Grisk and Latin Wutus
GsatXRAL INDIX
Tables of Mussums
73a
735
755
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Fig. Pack.
1. The Great Si^iinz. Gizeh. (Photograph) 14
2. Sheik-el-Beled. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) 17
3. Kneelmg Figure. Bronze. New-York Historical Rooms. (Photograph) . . .18
4. Making a Statae. Eighteenth Dynasty 19
5. Portrait Statues of Ra-hotep and Nefert. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) ... 23
6. Profile of Ra-hotep 23
7. Face of Nefert (Photograph) 24
8. The Scribe. Louvre. (Gazette des Beaux Arts) 25
9. Head from the Statue of an Officer of Rank. British Museum. (Photograph) • • 26
10. Boy Kneading. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) 27
11. King Chephren. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) 28
12. Relief from Ti's Tomb. Sakkarah. (Drawing from Cast) 30
13. Asses in Relief from Ti^s Tomb. Sakkarah. (Drawing from Cast) .... 30
14. Wooden Linings of Doors from Tomb of Hosi. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) . 31
15. Relief of the God Thoth. Sinai. (Ordnance Survey) 33
16. Sphinx from Tanis. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) 35
17. Entrance to Rock-Tomb at Beni-Hassan 36
18. Funereal Statuette. British Museum. (Photograph) 37
19. Tilling the Fields of the Egyptian Purgatory. From the " Book of the Dead ** . .38
20. Hunting-scene. Beni-Hassan. (Prisse d'Avenne) . 39
21. Priest of Ammon. New- York Historical Rooms. (Photograph) . • • • 40
22. Fallen Colossus of Rameses IL Mitrahenny. (Rosellini) 43
23. Court in the Temple of Rameses IIL Medeenet-Aboo. (Photograph) ... 47
24. The " Memnon Colossi." Thebes. (Photograph) 49
25. Thothmes in. British Museum. (Photograph) 50
26. Lion from Gebel Barkal. British Museum. (Photograph) . . . . • -51
27. Part of an Avenue of Ram-headed Sphinxes. Kamak . . • . . .52
28. Fa^e of Great Rock-Temple at Aboo-Simbel. Nubia. (Photograph) • • • 53
29. Throne of Amenophis IIL (Prisse d'Avenne) 54
3a Portrait of Khoo^n-aten, the Heretic King. Thebes. (Lepsius* DenkmSler) • . 54
31. Chained Prisoners being driven. Aboo-Simbel. (Rosellini) 55
32. Dancing-Girl. Thebes. (Prisse d'Avenne) -55
33. Seti I. worshipping Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Abydos ....
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FkG. PilGB.
34. Rameses II. and Three Sons storming a Fortress 57
35. Set] I. in Battle. Kamak 58
36. Aoota, Master-Sculptor, in his Workshop. Thebes. (Lepsius' Denkmaler) . . 59
37. Sculptor's Models. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) 60
38. BuU for Sculptor's Model. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) . . .61
39. Ram for Sculptor's Model. Boolak. Cairo. (Photograph) . . ... .62
40. Head found at Tello in Southern Chaldaea. Louvre. (Heliogravure, Revue Arch^
logique) 76
41. Statue of an Architect, found at Tello. Louvre. (Heliogravure, Revue Arch^
logique) . . 7^
42. Portal Guardian from Nimroud. British Museum. (Photograph) .... 83
43. Portal Lion from Nimroud. British Museum. (Photograph) 85
44. Conflict between a God and Demon. Nimroud. British Museum .... 87
45. Mystic Figures before the " Sacred Tree.*' From Nimroud. British Museum . 89
46. Gate of the South in the City-wall at Khorsabad 93
47. Palace Gateway. Khorsabad 95
48. Battle-scene from Nimroud 97
49. Head of an Assyrian Chariot-horse, from Assur-bani-pal's Palace. Koyunjik. British
Museum. (Photograph) 98
50. Hunting-scene, from Koyunjik. British Museum. (Photograph) .... 99
51. Dogs pulling down a Wild Ass. Koyunjik. British Museum. (Photograph) . . 100
52. Dying Lioness. (Photograph) 101
53. Assur-bani-pal pouring out a Libation on Slain Lions. Koyunjik. British Museum.
(Photograph) 102
54. Most ancient known Persian Relief. Pasaigad^e 105
55. King on Throne, with Attendant. Portal Relief. Persepolis 105
56. Ruins of the Palaces of Persepolis 106
57. King slaying Monster. Portal Relief. Persepolis 107
58. Facade of the Tomb of Darius. Murghab loS
59. Lion-Tomb at Amrith (restored) 114
60. Relief with Griffins from Arados. Louvre. (Mus6e Napol^n) 115
61. Relief in Ivory from Nimroud. British Museum. (Photograph) . . * 117
62. Silver Bowl discovered at Palestrina. Rome. (Monumenti dell' Instituto) .119
63. Portrait Statue of Cypriote Worshipper. (Doell) 121
64. Man, Lion, and Bird Monster found on Cyprus. New York. (Photograph) . .122
65. Part of Rock-hewn Procession at Boghaz Keui. Cappadokia. (Exploration en
Galatie) 127
66. Warriors hewn in the Rock, and Cyclopean Walls, at Ghiaour Kalessi. Phrygia.
(Exploration en Galatie) 129
67. Relief of Lions on Tomb near Ayazeen. Phrygia. (Journal of Hellenic Studies) . 132
68. Stele discovered at Mykene 142
69. Plan and Section of the so-called Treasury of Atreus at Mykene (restored) . •143
70. Sculptured Capital and Fragment of Column from the soK:alled Treasury of Atreus.
Mykene 145
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nc. Pagb.
71. Engraved Gem with Symbolical Representation. Provenience unknown. (MilchhOfer) 147
72. Engraved Gem with Vase-bearing Figure, possibly Iris. Crete. (Milchhdfer) . . 147
73. Engraved Gem with one of the Earliest Representations of the Tortured Prometheus.
Crete. (Milchhdfer) • . 147
74. Vase of the Dipylon Class. Athens. (Mon. d. Inst.) 149
75. Facade of the Midas Tomb. Phrygia 151
76. Oriental Goddess in Pressed Gold. Discovered at Mykene. Athens . • .152
77. Slab of Carved Ivory found at Spata. Athens. (Bulletin de Correspondance Hd-
l^nique) 152
78. Part of Sculptured Ceiling in Rock-cut Chamber of Great Tomb at Orchomenos.
(Schliemann) 154
79. Part of Painted Ceiling of Tomb in Thebes. Egypt (Prisse d'Avenne) . « • • i54
So. Swordrblade with Figures inlaid in Gold. Discovered in Mykene. Athens. (Athe-
naion) 155
81. Lion Gate at Mykene 157
82. Griffin's Head in Bronze, foimd at Olympia. Berlin. (Photograph) .... 168
83. Bronze Incrustation for Standard of Sacred Vessel. Olympia 169
84. Four of the Seated Statues from the Sacred Road near Miletos. British Museum . 180
85. Part of Frieze from Temple of Assos. Heracles struggling with Sea-god. Louvre . 183
86. Part of Temple Frieze. Assos. Heracles and Centaurs. (P2q)ers of the Archaeo-
logical Institute of America) 184
S7. View of the Lykian Tomb called the "Harpy Monument" 186
88. Reliefs from Two Sides of the so-called " Harpy Monument" British Museum . 187
89. Statue consecrated at Delos by Nicandra of Naxos. Myconos. (Bulletin de Corre-
spondance HelMnique) • • 189
90. Bronze Statuette from Naxos, probably of Apollo. Berlin Museum. (Drawing) . 191
91. Tombstone Relief by the Naxlan Alxenor, found at Orchomenos. Athens . . 192
92. Draped Female Figure discovered on Delos. , (Bulletin de Correspondance Hel-
16nique) 194
93. Winged Nike by Archermos of Chios. Myconos. (Bulletin de Correspondance
Hell^nique) 196
94. Winged Nike by Archermos of Chios 196
95. Winged Nike by Archermos. Conjectural Restoration. (Archaeologische Zeitung) . 197
96. Draped Statue found in Samos, probably Hera. (Bulletin de Correspondance Hel-
Mnique) 199
97. Bronze Relief from Crete. (Annali dell' Instituto) 202
98. {a) Bronze Relief from Argos. Discovered in Olympia. (Milchh6fer.) (d) Bronze
Relief from Argos. Discovered in Olympia. Heracles struggling with Halios
Geron. (Milchhdfer) 204
99. The so-called Apollo from Tenea. Munich 205
100. Tomb Relief found at Chrysapha, near Sparta. Sabouroff Collection. (Annali dell'
Instituto) 206
loi. Tombstone Relief from Lakedaimonia. Private Possession. (Mittheilungen des
Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts in Athen) 207
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xxvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Tig, Pagb.
102. Bronze Head, probably Aphrodite. From Kythera. Berlin Museum. (PhotographX 209
103. Colossal Head in Limestone, probably Hera. Olympia. (Photograph) . . 209
104. Head of Zeus in Bronze. Olympia. (Photograph) 211
105. Nude Male Figure with Long Hair, from Boeotia. British Museum. (Photograph) . 213
106. Seated Athena in Marble. Athens 214
107. Sphinx discovered at Spata in Attica. Athens. (Mitt d. Athen. Inst) . . .215
108. Part of the Tombstone of a Youthful Athlete. Athens. (Photograph) . . • 216
109. Tombstone of Aristion, by Aristocles. Athens 218
no. Metope from Selinus. Heracles carrying ofiE the Kercopes. Palermo . . .221
111. Metope from Selinus. Perseus slaying the Gorgon. Palermo 221
112. Ground-plan of the Parthenon, according to Dorpfeld. (MiU. d. Athen. Inst.) . . 229
113. The North-east Comer of the Parthenon as it now stands. (Wiener Vorlege Blatter), 231
1 14. Giants of Temple of Zeus at Acragas. Modem Girgenti. (Restored) . . . . 232
115. Tombstone Relief in the Villa Albani. Rome 233
116. Terra-cotta Relief from Melos. Electra at Agamemnon's Grave. Louvre . 234
117. Part of a Relief in Marble foimd on Thasos. Louvre 235
118. The West Pediment of the Temple of Athena on iEgina, according to Lange's
restoration 240
119. A Fallen Warrior from the East Pediment of the Temple of Athena on iCgina.
Munich. (Photograph) 244
120. Priestess with Key, found at Tegea. Athens. (Mitt. d. Athen. Inst.) . . . 252
121. Portrait Head discovered at Olympia, perhaps of Phormis the Arcadian. Olympia.
(Bdtticher) 255
122. Metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Heracles bringing a Stymphalian
Bird to Athena. (Bdtticher) 257
123. Metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Heracles, Atlas, and a Hesperid . 259
124. Metope from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Heracles cleaning Angelas' Stables.
(Bdtticher) 261
125. Detail from East Pediment at Olympia. The Head of the Troubled Seer . . . 263
126. The East Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, by Paionios. Restoration by
Griittner. (Photograph) 265
127. The West Pediment of the Temple at Olympia, by Alcamenes. Restoration by
Griittner. (Photograph) 265
128. Apollo from the West Pediment Olympia 267
129. Struggling Woman from the West Pediment Olympia 268
130. Face of Fallen Slave of West Pediment Olympia. (Photograph) .... 269
131. Relief from Pharsalos. Thessaly. Louvre. (Heuzey) 275
132. PhiDo's Dedicatory Gift to Athena, a Canephoros in Bronze. From Paestum. Berlin
Museum. (Archaeologische Zeitung) 279
133. Bronze Statuette with Eyes of Diamonds. British Museum. (Photograph) . . 280
134. Athena slaying a Giant From Selinus. Palermo 282
135. Harmodios and Aristpgeiton: (a) Relief from Chair in Athens; (b) Coin of Athens;
(r, d) Statues in Naples,— all traceable to a Group by Critios and Nesiotes • 286
136. Relief found in Athens. Chariot and Charioteer. Athens 288
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxvii
Fig. Page,
137. Relief of Hermes Criophoros. One Side of an Altar found in Athens. Athens.
(Ann. d. Inst) 289
38. Marsyas, traceable to an Original by Myron. Lateran Museum. Rome . . . 292
39. Discobolos, traceable to an Original by Myron. Rome 293
40. Athlete dropping Oil into Hand. Mimich. (Photograph) 295
41. Coin of Elis, representing the Olympic Zeus by Pheidias 302
42. Coin of Elis, with the Head of the Olympic Zeus by Pheidias 304
43. Head of Zeus found at Otricoli. Vatican 305
44. Statuette of Athena Parthenos. Athens. (Photograph) 309
45. Copy of the Outside of the Shield of Athena Parthenos. British Museum. (Photo-
graph) 313
46. Coin of Epidauros, with Image of Asclepios. (Overbeck) 319
47. Portrait of Pericles. Vatican. (Photograph) 324
48. Metope from Parthenon. Conflict between Centaur and Lapith. British Museum.
(Photograph) 331
49. Metope from Parthenon. British Mxiseum 332
50. Metope from Parthenon. Triumph of Centaur over Dead Lapith. British Mu-
seum 333
51. Central Groups of the East Frieze of the Parthenon 335
52. A Part of the East Frieze of the Parthenon. Athens. (Photograph) . . .338
53. A Part of the South Frieze of the Parthenon. Cows led to Sacrifice. British
Museum. (Photograph) 341
54. A Part of the North Frieze of the Parthenon. Bearers of Vases with Liquid Offer-
ings. Athens. (Photograph) 342
55. A Part of the North Frieze of the Parthenon. Procession of Mounted Youths.
British Museum. (Photograph) 344
56. The East Pediment of the Parthenon, according to Carrey's £)rawing (A.D. 1674) • 349
57. The Birth of Athena. Part of a Relief from a Marble PuteaL Madrid. (Schreiber) . 350
58. A Seated God, perhaps Olympos, from the South End of the East Pediment of the
Parthenon. British Museum. (Photograph) 353
59. Triad, perhaps the Clouds, from the North End of the East Pediment of the Par-
thenon. British Mxiseum. (Photograph) 354
60. The West Pediment of the Parthenon, according to Carrey's Drawing (A.D. 1674) . 357
61. The Temple of Theseus. Athens 366
62. A Part of the West Frieze of the Temple of Theseus. Athens. (Overbeck) . . 367
63. A Part of the East Frieze of the Temple of Theseus. Athens. (Overbeck) . . 367
64. One Group of Gods in the East Frieze of the Temple of Theseus. Athens. (Over-
beck) 368
65. Portico of the Erechtheion. Athens. (Photograph) 371
66. A Part of East Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike, on the Acropolis. Athens.
(Overbeck) 373
67. A Part of the West Frieze of the Temple to Athena Nike. Athens . . -374
68. Parts of Winged Goddesses of Victory from the Balustrade of the Temple of Athena
Nike. Athens. (Photograph) 375
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xxviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
fiG. PaO.
169. A Part of the Relief of the Balustrade of the Temple of Athena Nike, according to a
Restoration by Otto. (Kekul^) 376
170. A Nike from the Balustrade of the Temple of Athena Nike. Athens. (Photograph). 377
171. Votive Relief to Asclepios. Athens. (Mitt d. Athen. Inst.) 379
172. Votive Relief to the Nymphs and Pan, from Archandros. Athens. (Mitt. d. Athen.
Inst) 380
173. Vignette of State-record of the Treasury. Athens. (Bulletin de Correspondance
Hell^nique) 381
174. Tombstone Relief. Athens. (Photograph) 382
175. A Copy of Polycleitos' Doryphoros. Naples. (Restored) 385
176. Relief found in Argos. (Photograph) 386
1 77. A Copy of Polycleitos' Diadumenos. British Museum. (Restored) . . . . 388
178. An Amazon, perhaps a Copy of Polycleitos' Amazon. Berlin. (Restored). . . 391
179. A Part of the Amazon Frieze from the Interior of the Temple of Apollo at Bassai
near Phigaleia. British Museum 398
180. A Part of Amazon Frieze from Temple of ApoUo at Bassai near Phigaleia. British
Museum 399
181. A Part of Centaur Frieze from Interior of the Temple of Apollo at Bassai near
Phigaleia. British Museum 400
182. The Winged Nike by Paionios. 01}'mpia. (Photograph) 402
183. Acroterion of Temple on Delos as restored by Furtw&igler. (Archaeologische
Zeitung) 406
184. A Part of the Widest Frieze from the so-called Nereid Monument Xanthos. British
Museum. (Photograph) 409
185. A Part of the Second Frieze from the Nereid Monument Xanthos. British
Museum. (Photograph) 410
186. Three Nereids from Nereid Monument Xanthos. British Museum. (Photograph) . 413
187. View of the Great Herodn at Gjaibaschi. Southern Wall, Lykia. (Archaeologische-
Epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich) 415
188. (tf, d) The slaying of Penelope's Suitors. From Gj61baschi. Vienna. (Archaeo-
logische-Epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich) 424
189. (a, d, c) Part of Reliefs which lined the Walls of the Great Herodn at Gjdlbaschi.
Vienna. (Archaeologische-Epigraphische Mittheilungen aus Oesterreich) • . 421
190. Metope from Selinus. Actaion devoured by his Hounds. Palermo .... 423
191. Eirene with the Child Plutos. Munich. A Copy of an Original by Kephisodotos
(slightly restored) 434
192. Head of the Hermes by Praxiteles. (Photograph) 439
193. Restoration of the Hermes by Schaper. Berlin. (Zeitschrift fiur die Bildenden
Kiinste) 441
194. ApoUo Sauroctonos. Vatican 445
195. Silenos tending the Babe Dionysos. Louvre 445
196. Satyr, probably copied from an Original by Praxiteles. (The Marble Faun.) Rome . 448
197. Aphrodite on Cnidian Coin 451
198. Aphrodite. Olympia. (Photograph) 452
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxix
fte. Pace.
199. The Rape of Ganymede, after an Original by Leochares. Vatican . . .461
200. A Part of the Amazon Frieze of the Mausoleum. British Museum .... 470
201. Niobe and her Family. Florence 477
202. Niobe. Florence 479
203. Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. Athens. (Restored) 486
204. Frieze around the Smnmit of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. Athens.
(Slighdy restored.) (Overbeck) 487
205. Statue of Sophocles. Lateran Museum 4^9
206. Architectural Support in Theatre of Dionysos. A Burdened Silen. Athens . . 490
207. Tombstone with Sirens. Berlin. (Photograph) 496
208. Tombstone of Damasistrate. Athens. (Photograph) 497
209. Tombstone of Polyxene. Athens. (Photograph) 498
210. Tombstone representing Mother, Infant, and Friends. Peiraieus. (Photograph) . 499
211. Tombstone of Amenocleia, Daughter of Andromenos. Athens. (Photograph). . 500
212. Tombstone of Hegeso, Daughter of Proxenos. Athens. (Photograph) . 502
213. Tombstone. Peiraieus. (Photograph) 503
214. Tombstone on which is represented a Repast Athens. (Photograph) . . 504
215. Tombstones in shape of the Z^/i^M^j. Athens. (Photograph) 505
216. Votive Relief to Asclepios and Hygieia. Athens. (Photograph) .... 506
217. Poseidon Isthmios. (Lange's Restoration) 510
218. Portrait Head of Alexander the Great British Museum 515
219. The Apoxyomenos after Lysippos. Vatican 517
220. Head of the Lion from the Tomb of the Theban Warriors who fell at Chaironeia.
(Photograph) 524
221. Conjectural Restoration of one of the Columns of the Temple to Artemis, at Ephesos, 534
222. Sculptured Drum of one of the Columns of the Temple to Artemis, at Ephesos.
British Museum. (Photograph) 535
223. Portrait of Demosthenes. Athens. (Photograph) 548
224. Votive Relief to Pan and to the Nymphs. Vieima. (Photograph) .... 550
225. The Tower of the Winds, or Horologion of Andronicos (restored). Athens . .551
226. The Prayii^^ Boy of the Berlin Museum. (Photograph) 552
227. The City Goddess Tyche and the River God Orontes. Vatican 553
228. Bronze Head of a Victor in the Olympic Games. Olympia. (Photograph) . . 554
229. Coin of Demetrios Poliorketes. (Photograph) 558
23a Restored View of the Temple of Athena Polias ; Attalos' Stoa surrounding it. Temple
of Augustus in the Distance, and BatUe-Monuments in the Foreground. (Ergeb-
nisse der Ausgrabungen zu Pergamon) 565
231. Galatian Warrior and his Dying Wife. Villa Ludovisi, Rome. (Photograph) . . 566
232. The Dying Galatian, falsely called the Dying Gladiator. Capitol Museum, Rome.
(Photograph) 567
233. The Dying Galatian (back view). (Photograph) 568
224. Fighting Persian, traceable to Attalos' Votive Gift to Athens. Vatican. (PhotographX 572
235. Restoration of the Great Altar at Pergamon, by R. Bohn. Temples of Athena Polias
and of Augustus in the Background. (Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen zu Pergamon^ 575
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XXX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
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236. Zeus fighting Giants. From Great Frieze of Altar at Pergamon. Berlin. (Photo-
graph) 577
237. Artemis Group. From Pergamon. Berlin. (Photograph) 580
238. Veiled Goddess hurling Snake-bound Vase at the Enemy. From Pergamon. Berlin.
(Photograph) 583
239. Plunging Horses. * From Pergamon. Berlin. (Photograph) 586
240. Statuettes from Pergamon. Heracles freeing Prometheus. Berlin. (Winckelmann's
Program) 593
241. The Threatened Punishment of Dirke, popularly called the Famese BulL By
Apollonios and Tauriscos of Tralles. Naples 595
242. Venus (Aphrodite) from Melos. Louvre 597
243. Laocodn and his Sons. Marble Group in the Vatican 6oz
244. Laocodn and his Sons. Painting in Pompeii 604.
245. The River Nile, Vatican . 607
246. Fisherman. Vatican. (Photograph) 611
247. Babe struggling with a Goose, after Boethos. Louvre 61 z
248. Marble Statue of Boy extracting Thorn from Foot British Museum. (Photograph) • 613
249. Bronze Satyr from Pergamon. Berlin. (Drawing) 614
250. Bronze Head of Satyr'. Glyptothek. Munich. (Photograph) 615
251. Life-size Marble Head. Glyptothek. Munich. (Photograph) 619'
252. Small Marble Head discovered in Corfu. (Photograph) 620-
253. Ideal Bronze Head. British Museum. (Photograph) 622.
254. The Apollo Belvedere. Marble Statue in the Portico Belvedere of the Vatican • 623.
255. Bronze Statuette of Apollo, owned by Count Stroganoff. St Petersburg. (Phototype,
Arch. Zeit) 624
256. Rhodian Coin with Head of Helios. 400-350 B.C. (Photograph) .... 626
257. Marble Statue of a Seated Lady, probably a Portrait Museo Torlonia. Rome.
(Mon. d. Inst.) 627
258. Portrait Head in Bronze. From Kyrene. British Museum. (Photograph) . . 629
259. Bronze Situla. Bologna. (Gozzadini) 634
260. Bronze Statuette of an Etruscan Lady. Bologna. (Gozzadini) 636
261. Relief on an Etruscan Cippus. Mourning about the Dead. Florence. (Micali) . 637
262. Cinerary Urn in Shape of Chair, with Portrait of Deceased. Florence. (Micali) . 638
263. Etruscan Sarcophagus from Caere (Cervetri). Louvre. (Mon. d. Inst.) . . . 639
264. Etruscan Sarcophagus of Advanced Style. Louvre. (Mon. d. Inst) .... 640
265. Etruscan " Ash Chest'' Telephos threatens to sky Infant Orestes at Altar. Munich, 641
266. Tombstone found near Bologna. Bologna. (Gozzadini) 642
267. The Etruscan Orator. Florence 645
268. The Venus di Medici. Uffizi. Florence 657
269. A Caryatid (restored by Thorwaldsen). Vatican 660
270. The Famese Heracles, by Glycon the Athenian. Naples 661
271. Marble Vase in Archaistic Style, by Sosibios the Athenian. Louvre. (Overbeck) . 662
272. Archaistic Group called Orestes and Electra. Naples 66^
273. The so-called Apollo Gouffier of the British Museum. (Photograph) . . . 664.
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxi
Fig. Pack.
274. Group l^ Menelaos, Scholar of Stephanos. Villa Ludovisi 665
275. The Borghese Warrior, by Agasias of Ephesos. Louvre 667
276. The Apotheosis of Homer. British Museum. (Overbeck) 668
277. A Part of the Large Frieze from Augustus' Ara Pads, (Mon. d. Inst) . . . 672
278. A Part of the Large Frieze from Augustus* Ara Pacts, Procession of Members of
the Royal Family. Rome. (Photograph) 673
279. A Part of the Small Frieze of Augustus' Ara Pacts, Beast led to Sacrifice. Rome.
(Mon. d. Inst.) 674
280. A Part of the Small Frieze of Augustus' Ara Pacts, Acolytes with OfiEerings. Rome.
(Mon. d. Inst) 674
281. Statue of Augustus found in livia's Villa ad Gallinas Albas. Vatican . . . 675
282. Arch of Titus. Rome 677
283. Relief from Inside of Arch of Titus. His Triumphal Procession entering Rome
after Conquest of Jerusalem 679
284. Triumphal Arch of Constantine, built after Plan of Trajan's Arch (312 A.D.) Rome . 680
285. Barbarian Prisoner. Lateran Museum. Rome. (Photograph) 682
286. Portion of Relief on Trajan's Column. Trajan Sacrificing 683
287. Portion of Relief on Trajan's Column. Moving the Catapults 684
288. Colossal Bronze Statue of Victory. Brescia. (Photograph) 685
289. Portrait of Antinous. Relief found in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli. Villa Albani.
(Photograph) 687
290. Apotheosis of Antoninus Pius and of Faustina the Elder. Rome .... 688
291. Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. Capitol, Rome 690
292. Sarcophagus. A Battle between Barbarians and Romans, and Mourning or Bound
Prisoners. Capitol, Rome. (Photograph) 691
293. Relief on Sarcophagus. From the Villa Pamfili. Capitol, Rome .... 692
294. Relief from the Arch of Constantine. The Emperor addresses the People . . 693
295. Colossal Sarcophagus of St Helena, in Red Porphyry. Vatican. (Photograph) . 694
PLATES.
Plate L Portrait Statue of Rameses IL Turin opp, 214
Helmeted Head op Athena. Acropous, Athens . . • opp, 214
Plate II. Colossal Head in Parian Marble, probably op Aphrodite.
Berlin cpp, 320
Plate III. A Part of the Amazon Frieze op the Mausoleum. British
Museum opp. 470
Plate IV. Demeter from Cnidos. British Museum opp, 532
Plate V. A Part of the Frieze of the Giants from the Great Altar
AT Pergamon. Berlin opp, 581
Plate VI. Tragic Head, usually called the Dying Medusa. Villa
LuDOvisL Rome opp. 618
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EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
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CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
Antiquity of Egypt.— Historical Sources. — Character of the Land. — Influence of Climate and Natural
Phenomena upon Ancient Inhabitants and their Art. — The Pharaoh, his Divine and Absolute Char-
acter — The Aristocracy.— Curious Beliefs with Regard to the Future Life.— The A'^. — Impor-
tance and Durability of the Tomb and its Statuary. — Construction of the Tomb. — The Serddb.—
Tomb Reliefs.— Provision made for Funereal Services.— The Pyramids. — Pyramid Temples.—
Absence of Statues in the Pyramids. — The Sphinx. — The Mysterious Character of the Egyptian
Gods. — The Innumerable and Multifarious Forms given them. — Animal-headed Divinities. — De-
pressing Influence of Symbolism on Art. — Prosaic Character of Egyptian Myth. — Materials used
for Sculpture. — Absence of Marble. — Methods of Working. — The Attendant Difiiculties. — Di-
visions of Egyptian History.
The hoary civilization on the banks of the Nile was regarded with wonder,
even by the nations of antiquity. Homeric verse sings the " hundred-gated
Thebes." Solon, the Attic law-giver, and, according to tradition, Pythagoras,
the Samian philosopher, drank at the fountain of Egyptian wisdom. Plato,
filled with marvel at the stability of t,he empire, tells us that the statues in
his day were like those produced thousands of years before.
For our knowledge of the land, its customs and religion, we were long
dependent upon the reports of Greek and Roman travellers alone. Plato,
Herodotos, Diodoros Siculus, and others contributed towards clearing up the
mystery hanging over its past, but in narratives colored deeply by their
own national peculiarities. Much we owe to Manetho, an Egyptian priest of
high rank, who lived in the early part of the third century B.C., and wrote a
history of his people in Greek, by order of the Greek ruler of Egypt. But the
study of the excavated monuments has thrown still greater light on that
obscured past. From them the CEdipus of modern research has wrung many
truths of deep import, not the least of the results being the light thrown on
the spirit and motive of sculptures heretofore enigmatical. The enduring
colossus ; the tiny statuette found with the mummy ; the tomb written all over
with painted relief ; the towering obelisk ; the papyrus-roll, revealing the lore of
ancient Egypt ; the brilliant mummy-case ; and the hieroglyphic story read at
last from the very heart of the pyramids, — have aided in filling out the picture
of those ancient days, so that many customs seem as vivid as though they were
but of yesterday. Digitized by ^OOglc
4 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
As the traveller on the banks of the Nile gazes at the majestic ruins of
Thebes, her prostrate temple columns, pylons rent asunder, and shattered
colossi, seem once more to stand up, and speak of the glories of that age when
Egypt was the conqueror of the world ; when beneath the magic wand of those
arbiters of her destinies, the Thothmes, the Amenophs, and the Rameses,
these wonders of architecture and sculpture sprang into existence. If we could,
in imagination, build up these countless and vast structures, people them with
their statues, line them throughout with reliefs, and then, with the painter's
brush, charm back their former brilliancy of color ; if we could see the obelisk,
shining with gold ; the broad avenue of silent sphinxes, through which passed
the stately procession ; the priests performing their gorgeous rites before the
sacred images ; and if we could picture the fertile Nile valley, with its over-
hanging canopy of blue, and the unbroken sweep of the distant mountains, —
we should then be able to gain an impression of the part that sculpture played
there, its impressive forms harmonizing with the grand repose of the landscape,
and its colossal proportions witnessing to the ambition of mighty Pharaohs.
The Nile valley, running north and south through the entire length of
Egypt, for three-quarters of the distance does not at the utmost exceed fifteen
miles in width ; and, in some of the southern districts, the mountains on the
east, the Arab chain, approach the Western, or Libyan range, so closely, as to
form a narrow defile." Farther to the north, the Libyan heights sink so
decidedly as to admit the passage of a large canal, which supplied the vast
reservoir known to the admiring Greeks as Lake Moeris, and served to irrigate
the province now called Fayoom. In Lower Egjrpt, not far from the ruins of
ancient Memphis, the Nile finally separates into two branches ; the one called
the Rosetta finding its way to the sea in a north-westerly direction, and the
other, the Damietta, taking a north-easterly course. The five other outlets
known to antiquity have long been choked by the annual deposits of the river ;
but, as of old, artificial canals still intersect the broad plain of the Delta.
Along this valley, how striking the contrast between the stream with its
closely clinging belt of verdure, and the barren cliffs with the shifting, smother-
ing, desert sands, stretching away to the right and left! But in June the
waters, as by magic, slowly begin to swell, although no rain has fallen in Egypt.
The dams are opened in due course of time, and the eager waters flood the
parched land up to the very base of the mountains. At this time the country
appears like a lake, out of which cities and mounds rise like islands. Cheery
scenes accompany this season of annual overflow. Busy boats ply about ; the
populace, young and old, and herds, stand or wade in the grateful waters ; fish
dart and plash ; while flocks of birds watch for their finny prey. After the
waters recede, a rich loam is found deposited over the whole land : a light
plough easily opens this soft, warm soil ; in it the scattered seed rapidly germi-
nates, the plant comes to fruition, and the barren land is changed to a paradise^
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CHARACTER OF LAND AND PEOPLE. 5
Hence it was that Herodotos could, so eloquently, call Egypt the " gift of the
river." 3 The harvest being over, the desert wind once more prevails ; and the
struggle of the verdant plains against scorching sun and burning sand is
renewed Such is the annually recurring phenomenon in the Nile valley, the
unswerving regularity of which through the centuries, combined with the
isolation of the land, shut in by the mountains, the ocean, and the equally
boundless sea of desert, made Egypt the cradle of a most ancient and peculiar
civilization.
Much discussion has arisen concerning the affinities of the ancient inhab-
itants of Egypt. Lepsius, Bunsen, and Maspero, ranking their language with
ancestral Semitic speech, call it proto-Semitic.4 As the monuments, passing
from the sea up the Nile, grow less and less ancient, it seems probable, that
the Egyptians of history, wandering from Western Asia, entered their promis-
ing valley by way of the Isthmus of Suez. Still another opinion, held by
Renan and others, is, that their language shows nearness of kin to the Chamitic
languages of Northern Airica.5 According to one view, the ancient inhabitants
of the Nile valley were a Semitic race, who, it is conjectured, on entering the
valley, became intermingled to some extent with a race of negroes already occu-
pjring the soil, but more probably expelled them from their homes. According
to still another theory, the Egyptians may have belonged to the great Cushite
stock supposed to have spread from Southern India to North-western Africa.
The mummies found in the ancient tombs, as well as the forms the sculptor
has reproduced in statue and relief, show clearly, that the early Egyptians
were not negroes ; and the modern peasant seems to have preserved somewhat
the ancient type.^ He is of good stature, and the form of the fellah is lean and
slender. His shoulders are high and square, his chest protruding, and his
sinewy arm ends in a long, fine hand. His hips are disproportionately small
for the powerful shoulders. Details of knee and calf, as with a pedestrian
people, are very pronounced, and the feet long and flattened from the habit of
going barefoot The head is often ungracefully large, the forehead somewhat
low, the nose short and round, the hair straight and stiff ; and the peculiar cast
of the features, with the long, almond-shaped eyes, produces a mild, even sad
expression.
The energetic and practical turn of the ancient Egyptians was, no doubt,
greatly encouraged and developed by their natural surroundings. As far back
as they can be traced, they are engaged in the herculean task of turning the
great river into a source of blessing, hoarding up its waters in artificial lakes,
or dispersing them by judicious canalization. Moreover, the necessity of im-
proving every foot of this narrow stretch of fruitful land, and of renewing the
landmarks annually effaced by the overflow, besides the construction of water-
works, and the observation of the Nile level to catch the suitable day for letting
loose the waters^ early developed sciences which should subserve these ends.
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6 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
The unique physiognomy of the Nile-land, together with the strongly
pronounced phases of its natural phenomena, could not fail to leave their
deep impress also on the imagination of its ancient inhabitants. The broad,
unchanging ocean; the trackless desert sand; the mountains of sandstone, lime-
stone, and granite, of which interminable ranges swept the horizon ; the blaz-
ing sun ; the glowing, cloudless sky ; the invariably recurring starry nights ; the
very atmosphere, preserving what was out of reach of the flowing waters from
the tooth of corruption, — seemed to teach the enduring nature of all things.
All this, and especially the annual periodicity of the overflow, with its accom
panying harvest, by which the Egyptian was freed from the fitful freaks of
climate, doubtless encouraged that quietism and contented conservatism which
were so strongly pronounced in his character, and which we shall see mirrored
in his art. The subjects which he treated, the types which, in the bright dawn
of his national life, he had developed, passed on with little change ; that which
seems to us constraint, doubtless appearing to him a blessed, time-honored
regulation. He builds temples, not to last for a few centuries, but for ages.
The pious remind the gods, that their gifts are of " hard stone," eternal wit-
nesses to their devotion.^ Eternity seems written on these Egyptian works.
Rameses II., in Pentaur's hymn, is made, when pressed by his foes, to appeal
to the gods for help, because he has put up to them " eternal stones." ^
Moreover, the transparent atmosphere and blazing sun of Egypt, as well
as its tremendous horizons, and broad sweeps of mountain and plain, required
forms in art more colossal than those prevailing in the diversified scenery and
shadier climes of the North. Seen through this air, and in such intense light,
statues, to be efifective, require to have two or three times the height of man ;
and, in the midst of such surroundings, the colossal Sphinx, the majestic seated
Pharaoh, and the towering obelisk, are not inexplicable strangers, but the very
autochthons of the soil.
The geographical conformation of Egypt was also conducive to that politi-
cal and social uniformity which it retained throughout its venerable course.
The long river, aflEording ready communication, and the broad, alluvial plain,
were hostile to small, independent states, but rendered it easy for conquering
armies to subdue them. Among the earliest spectacles which meet us in the
recorded history of Egypt, is that of absolute power, using the masses at its
own sovereign will. On the plains of Memphis, where Cheops raised his tomb,
the Pyramid of Gizeh, rivalling the mountains, we seem to hear the groans of
impressed multitudes, whose echoes had sounded down to the time of the
Greek Herodotos. Israel, under a much later Pharaoh, sighed by reason of its
bondage, "its cry going up to God." The latest discoveries witness to the
labor and time spent in the construction of the treasure-cities of Pithom.9
The vast number of ancient monuments, as well as the carelessness manifest
in much of this forced work, furnish additional testimony to the severity of the
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
CONSERVATISM AND KINDLINESS OF THE EGYPTIANS. ^
tasks imposed upon the ancient dwellers on the Nile.'<> But the Egyptians,
doubtless naturally inclined to veneration, were from childhood accustomed to
a religious reverence for their ruler ; and so generation succeeded generation of
submissive subjects, ignorant of the spirit of freedom. The insurrections or
tumults occurring in the course of Egyptian history are, as a rule, roused and
fanned by foreigners ; and the native population, with their myriad hands and
unrequited toil, continued, through the ages, to raise colossal temples in honor
of their Pharaohs, or to drag ponderous monoliths, figures of " sacred " ma-
jesty, to their place before the pylon or within the court.
But though oppressed, and blindly obedient to authority, the Egyptians
do not appear to have lost their morale^ or to have developed a morose and
unkindly disposition in their dealings. From numerous inscriptions and
papyri, it appears that one of their fundamental maxims was the cultivation
of a charitable spirit. In the " Book of the Dead ** (chap, cxxv.), that code
of moral action, a copy of which was placed with every mummy to be the
sure "passport" through the journey to the future world, in almost the very
words of the Christian doctrine, charity is inculcated. It reads, " I have
given bread to the hungry. I have given water to the thirsty. I have given
clothes to the naked. I have not calumniated the slave to his master." A
prince of the nome, or province, of Meh, one Amooni, thus recounts his kindly
actions on his tomb at Beni-Hassan, of so early a date as the Twelfth Dynasty :
" There is no minor that I have put to grief, no widow that I have despoiled,
no laborer that I have turned o£F, no shepherd that I have imprisoned, no chief
of five men, from whom I have taken his men for forced labor : there were no
hungry or miserable in my day ; for, if a season of want came, I had cultivated
all the arable land of the nome of Meh to its northern and southern frontiers.
I caused the vassals to live by it, providing food, so that none hungered among
them. I gave to the widow, and to her that had a husband. I made no dis-
tinction between great and small in all that I gave." " Although Amooni was
thus ready, like Zaccheus of Scripture, to proclaim his own good deeds, his
words, doubtless, embody the ideal of a good man among the ancient Egyp-
tians ; and their art seems to reflect this kindly spirit. In fact, there seems
among this people to have been a vein of merriment, and an enjoyment of life,
as appears not only from inscriptions, but also from the scenes sculptured in the
tombs. We see them dancing, playing games, hunting, and fishing ; and, in
their prayers, they beg to have life preserved, and to enjoy a happy old age, —
if possible, to arrive to the perfect age of one hundred and ten years." The
solemn and funereal character of early and later Egyptian statuary, peopling
numberless tombs, could not then have been due to the gloomy and exclusive
spirit of the people, but must find its explanation in connection with the naive
faiths which gave birth to their art.
The monarch Pharaoh combined in his person the most varied offices and
Digitized by V^OOQIC
8 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
attributes. Besides being the highest civil authority, the head of the army, and
an extensive land-owner, he exercised the priestly office, and even held the
position of a deity. He was worshipped by his people as the direct descendant
of the gods, who in remotest ages had ruled over the land in person. »3 Even
during the oldest, the Memphitic period of Egyptian history, far more promi-
nence seems to have been given to the worship of the king than to that of the
gods proper ; and at a later date, while the statues of the gods scarcely exceed
life-size, those of the kings were in colossal proportions.^ The divinity of
the monarch commenced on earth, but to every Pharaoh death was an apoth-
eosis ; and the living ruler pays his homage and addresses his invocations to
his divine ancestors. '5
In one case, Rameses II. is, strangely enough, represented as worshipping
himself in his own image ; and again, in a relief in Abydos, he is in the attitude
of adoration before his father, Seti I.'^ The king was, besides, priest supreme.
A cult like that of Egypt required, doubtless, a large number of ministers ;
but, in the principal temples at least, the king, as high-priest, alone had the
right to enter the sanctuary where was kept the symbol representing the
deity. '7 A glance through illustrated publications of Egyptian carvings shows
how often he appears worshipping a deity, often being presented by another
deity.
It is not strange that the Pharaoh, possessed of such absolute power,
having at his command the unrequited toil of his subjects in the quarry and on
the building-site, and regarded as a god, the unquestioned ruler of his people,
the high-priest before whom every head was bowed to the earth, should have
filled with his majesty the vast structures which his word had caused to spring
from the earth. His image is everywhere about the temple ; in the form of
colossal, seated statues in front of the pylons ; as huge, standing figures lining
the porticoes ; and, in relief, occupying the great halls and courts, where he
appears, not only worshipping, but now receiving the adoration of the crowds,
now leading troops to battle, now returning victorious. Are statues of sub-
jects allowed in the temple, it is only " by favor of the king," to whom they
have done some great service. '^
But while the divine Pharaoh thus bent to his immediate service the
most ambitious efforts of architect, sculptor, and painter, there were, besides,
many officials of state who employed the artist. Although there were no
castes in Egypt, yet priests, warriors, and scribes seem to have constituted each
a privileged body. They had command of great resources, all the land which
was not royal domain being in their hands. Their importance, even from
oldest times, is evident, both from their spacious and gorgeous tombs, lined
with relief or fresco, and their speaking statues, brought to light on that wide
plateau at Memphis, where these lordly subjects were laid to rest under the
shadow of the pyramid tombs of their monarch masters. From this vast
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BELIEFS ABOUT THE TOMB. 9
cemetery, seventeen kilometers long, statues of but one Pharaoh of the Mem-
phitic period (Khafra) have as yet been brought to light ; but the statues of
men high in rank may be counted by the hundred.
Profound mystery long hung over this population of statues, imprisoned
within Egyptian tombs, and the gayly colored reliefs, lining their walls like
brilliant tapestry. Only recently has this question received an approximate
solution through the interpretation of the hieroglyphics. '9
The Egyptian, with a feeling common to humanity in all ages, felt an
intense desire to outlive the few short years of his pilgrimage on earth ; and
hence, to securing a happy and contented hereafter, much of his earthly sub-
stance was devoted. He conceived the life to come as a continuation of
existence in the Nile valley. The life on earth was to him but a short episode
of an »etemity mirrored in the present. So intense is this feeling, that only
lost souls are spoken of as dead ; while the one occupying a coffin or tomb is
called the "living;" and the coffin of Una, the great statesman of King Pepi,
is called "the chest of the living." ^o
But the Egyptian believed, that, for the soul's future happiness, the preser-
vation of the mortal body was in some way indispensable.** There are chapters
in the ** Book of the Dead " relating to the uniting of the soul to its body. Now
the body, if left to itself, was in danger of annihilation. Hence the efforts to
preserve it in a condition as nearly like life as possible; hence the colored
cheeks, the carefully braided locks, and, that physical dissolution might be
postponed for ages to come, the costly embalming of the mummy, and the
pains taken in securing for it an inviolable resting-place, far above the rising
waters of the river. The hardest stones were sought for the sarcophagus.
Hieroglyphic records present the picture of a high functionary sent out by a
powerful Pharaoh to spend months in the arduous search for an adamantine
block of granite or basalt.**
But far stranger than this was the material view taken by the Egyptian
of his ethereal part, and the provision he made for it. It was believed, that,
under the creative hand of Ptah, an immortal second self, a kind of spiritual
double, called the Ka, sprang into being with every mortal, and grew with his
growth. It was conceived, to use Maspero's definition, as a copy of the body
in matter less dense than all corporeal substances, a kind of aerial colored
projection of the individual, reproducing him feature for feature. But as the
Ka had accompanied the body in life, sharing its earthly lot and its dwelling
of wealth or poverty ; so after life had fled, and the body was wrapped in its
mummied shroud, this spiritual part must needs bear it company in the tomb.
Moreover, the future existence of this invisible Ka was believed to be depend-
ent upon a material support necessarily resembling the earthly body; and
hence the Ka received a statue which it might occupy through the ages of an
endless future. That this statue might be enduring, it was made of hard stone, |
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
lO EGYPTIAN SCULFrURE.
and concealed from danger. Out of this, its stony body, it was believed that
the shade could wander, walking among men in true ghostly fashion. ^3 But
a single statue might perish, or become mutilated, and future happiness be for-
feited. Hence that unique feature of earlier Egyptian statuary, the multiplica-
tion of the figures of the deceased in his tomb.
Like other men, the Egyptian dreaded the helplessness and solitude of the
grave ; the more so, that he attached such reality to it. This phantom would
suffer hunger, and be in danger of annihilation, did not surviving friends care
for its wants, and piously bring it offerings of food and drink. *4 Did they,
however, neglect such sacred duties, then the dead would be roused to anger ;
and the spirit, or Ka^ would have its revenge. ^5
But the Egyptian did not depend upon the pious devotion of surviviHg
friends alone. His family might become extinct, and then his shade would
be neglected. Consequently, in his lifetime he took every precaution to
insure its future well-being. The poor and down-trodden could hope for little ;
and, as remains show, a few amulets, a bath of natron, a few windings of linen,
and a grave in the dry, conserving sand, were all the precautions taken against
dissolution. 26 But the Pharaoh and the rich were better able to provide for
their future.
The site of the tomb was always chosen high above the overflowing
waters, in strong contrast to the abodes of the living, built within reach
of the swelling Nile, and of which scarcely a vestige remains. The Egyp-
tians, as we are told by the Greek Diodoros, called their dwellings '* inns," on
account of the shortness of life ; but the tombs they called " eternal dwelling-
places," and this expression is met constantly in inscriptions within the tombs.'7
On the plateau of the Libyan, or Western range, behind which the sun dropped
every evening, there to commence his dangerous journey through the sombre
land of Ament, the Egyptian chose the site for burial. The western shore of
the Nile was thus the land of the dead : graves are found on the eastern shore,
only where the distance over to the Libyan mountains was too great for friends
to go with food for the dead, and return by easy journey. Wherever found,
the tombstones, however, always face the East, as though the mummy were
watching for the rising sun, which should illumine his night, and put an end
to his long sleep.
The tomb of the rich of the oldest period is the original form from which
those of later times seem to have been derived. It consists, as a rule, of three
parts, — first, the mummy-chamber; second, the shaft; and third, the chapel,
with its adjoining dark recess filled with statues, and called by the Arabs
The mummy-chamber is hewn deep within the living rock : and its walls,
massive and enduring as eternity, are pictureless ; showing, at the most, traces
of ritual phrases. '9 In the centre stands the lonely sarcophagus, hermetically
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOMB. II
sealed, and containing the mummy. Accompanying the coffin, a few large
red vases o£ coarse fabric, and the remains of quarters of beef, are all that
have been found in mummy-chambers of the oldest period. These vases,
•doubtless, once contained water, as was the case with those found in other
parts of the tomb. It is not strange, with the parching desert on every side,
that aridity should have been the synonyme for death ; and that water, deemed
the essential principle of life, should have been abundantly provided for the
thirsty Ka.V' The numberless statuettes, and well-manned models of boats,
found with the sarcophagus, appear for the first time in the tombs of the
Eleventh Dynasty, at the opening of the Theban, or second, period.
The entrance to this hidden chamber is always found scrupulously closed
•with solid masonry. From it leads up the long and narrow vertical shaft, in
many places reaching a depth of thirty meters, and filled up with a conglom-
-erate of earth and stone, to make still more inviolate the mummy's rest. The
mouth is most carefully concealed ; and often a false shaft is made, to lead
astray any inquisitive searcher.
Over the concealed entrance to the mummy-chamber rises, in the shape
of a truncated pyramid, the mastaba. It varies in size, and richness of internal
appointments, with the age and wealth of the deceased, who had devoted much
of his substance while living to making habitable this his "eternal dwelling."
In this mastaba was the chapel where children, friends, and appointed priests
met, on certain festivals, to eat and drink with the departed, doing him reli-
^ous honors, and setting aside his portion on a table of offerings ; thus keeping
up the consoling fiction of an earthly life in common with the living.3« Here,
«ven the stranger could enter, and say the prayers which the deceased, speak-
ing from inscriptions on the walls, besought him to repeat for their mutual
welfare. The outer walls of the mastaba were not usually the field upon
which the ancient sculptor displayed his skill ; although, in some instances, his
work is found on the facade. About the door is, however, invariably a stereo-
typed formula of prayer in hieroglyphics, followed by a mention of the fune-
real gifts to be presented to the deceased on certain anniversaries, "even to
•eternity." Stepping inside, gayly painted reliefs, covering the walls, present
themselves on every hand. Sometimes these brilliant linings of the tombs
-were found unfinished, the occupant having been surprised by death before
the sculptor had completed his work.32
Could we imagine the rich man's children and friends about us, we should,
doubtless, hear them discourse upon the Ka statues of their departed ancestor,
walled up in a dark recess adjoining. As a rule, the chapel of every tomb of
the Ancient Empire is furnished with one such recess, called serddb. In the
tomb of Pehen-u-ka, at Sakkarah, six such enclosures were discovered, unfortu-
nately despoiled ; and, as the part of a statue was found in the chapel of the
"Same tomb at Sakkarah, it is evident that the statues were not all confined in
Digitized by V^OOQIC
12 EGYFllAN SCULPTURE.
the serd&b. The two figures in the chapel of Ti are another proof that statues
of the tomb were occasionally allowed outside of the closed serddb. Some-
times, however, figures within this enclosure had direct communication with
the chapel through a crack in the wall, only wide enough to admit a hand, and
intended as a channel of intercourse between the convivial gathering in the
chapel and the silent, walled-up statues. On a relief in the tomb of Ti at Mem-
phis, friends appear at this opening, wafting grateful incense to reach the stony
nostrils within.33 Frequently, twenty or more statues of the Ka are found in
these closed recesses ; all representing the deceased, as is evident from their
similarity one to the other, and their dedicatory inscriptions. In the serddb
of Ra-hotep's famous tomb at Memphis, eighteen portraits of the worthy
dignitary were found, some of them in red granite, others in limestone, and
one in Oriental alabaster. The largest of these measured eighty-three, and
the smallest thirty-five, centimeters in height; the deceased appearing in
different poses, either seated, standing, or kneeling.34
In keeping with the desire to alleviate the solitude of the tomb, were
depicted on its walls the forms of the favorites and attendants of the deceased.
As far back as we can trace the Egyptian, he was too advanced to secure
society for his dead by the bloody immolations practised by many primitive
peoples, as, for instance, African races of to-day. The speaking forms of art
had been called to his aid, depicting in small statues, but far more in brilliant
relief, servants and craftsmen in the routine and ardor of work. The busy
cook kneads bread, the butcher slays the ox ; and thus the services of the Kay
or double, of the servant, were secured for his master's shade. Episodes of the
shambles are made still more real by accompanying inscriptions, as where one
shouts, " Hold him fast ! " and another replies, " Ready, make haste." Even
jokes from his busy attendants are sometimes written on the walls, to delight
the ear of the dead. A noisy sailor on the water, in one case, shouts to an
old man, "Go you, too, on the water! " to which the reply is, "Don't make so
many words." 35 In the tomb of Ti, some of the servants are clearly portraits,
as the cripple, leading "pick-eared" hounds. Brilliant color throws its charm
over many scenes, and what the low relief could not otherwise have brought
out appears as clear as life. Surrounded by rural scenes, among his servants,
or in the midst of his family, sometimes engaged in pleasant games, or diverted
by the graceful dance, continually re-appears the all-important inhabitant of
this "eternal dwelling," towering in colossal proportions above his pygmy
attendants or kin.36 That all this concerns the dead, appears most clearly from
inscriptions, such as are found repeatedly in the tomb of Ti at Memphis.
Here occur the explanatory words, " He sees the plucking of grapes, and all
the labors of the field." "Ti sees the stables of the oxen and small beasts, the
trenches and canals of the tomb : he sees the gathering of the flax, the har-
vesting of the wheat, its transport on the back of the ass," and the like.
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PROVISION FOR FUTURE LIFE. 13
An honored place in the west wall of the chapel is given to the tombstone
proper, the stele, on which the deceased appears, often as standing, receiving
the pleasant gifts of his surviving friends, or as seated before a table laden
with good things, of which he was believed to partake. To these was added a
written prayer, the counterpart of that of the facade, that the god would see
to it that the Ka of the departed actually received these offerings intended
for him.
Below the stele is sometimes found, still uninjured, a table of offering and
libation, often of fine workmanship and ornamented form. On one such table
of wood, vases, evidently once intended for water, were found, as well as a
figure of a plucked goose, in stone.37 On these tables, friends perhaps
deposited the food which should go to nourish the languishing Ka, So
important was deemed the continuance of these provisions, that the great
ones of Egypt set apart lands and goods, the revenues of which should supply
banquets, to be held in their chapels through all ages to come ; stipulating
with priests by contracts for their perpetuity, as well as their abundance and
variety. Many of these written contracts are still extant, and date as early
as the Fourth Dynasty. 3^ In the tomb of an unknown nobleman of the Sixth,
and of Hapi Toofi of the Thirteenth, Dynasty, are found whole deeds or frag-
ments relating to the duties of the ATisi-priest, and to the institution of sacrifices
for the statue of a deceased prince.
Thus, by a most ingenious intermingling of spiritual and material ele-
ments, making his tomb like his home on earth, only more enduring, the
Egyptian believed that his happy future was secure.
A lively communication between this busy spirit world and living men
was supposed to exist. Thus, to the wooden statue of an Egyptian lady, which
is now in Leyden, was found attached an importunate papyrus letter from her
living husband, who evidently expects his better half, though in the grave, to
get the full force of his message. 39
As the well-sealed mummy-chamber of the humbler tombs contained the
sarcophagus and mummy ; so those vast tumuli of accurate geometrical shape,
the p)rramids, were the mummy-chambers of royal tombs.40 For royalty, the
chapels appear to have been built separate from the pyramid ; since the ruins
of buildings have been discovered to the east of the second and third pyramids.
Here religious services were kept up for countless generations in honor of the
dead king by his descendants, and by colleges of priests appointed for the
purpose.4" Many a functionary who now reposes by his Pharaoh in the Mem-
phis sands is proud to say, that he was " priest of the temple of the pyramid
of his king."
Did these temples connected with the pyramids, like the chapels in
humbler tombs, have their serdAb with concealed statues of the Pharaoh, or
were the statues of the king left exposed } Scarcely a vestige of these p)rra- .
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14
EGYPl'IAN SCULPTURE.
mid temples now remains, and still less of their statuary and reliefs, to aid in
the solution of this query. It is possible that the seven famous statues of
Chephren (Khafra), found by Mariette in a well, in the so-called Temple of the
Sphinx, may once have occupied his tomb, but, as has been conjectured, were
at some time dragged forth by the populace, and precipitated into the place
where they were found.^^ It might also be imagined that the pyramids them-
selves contained images of the kings, hidden in some deep recess. As yet,
however, only one chamber which might have served as a serddb for statues
has been discovered, — that in the Pyramid of Oonas, the last king of the Fifth
i~-
1 ;
Fig. 1. The Great Sphinx. Qizeh.
Dynasty ; but the fact, that statues themselves have nowhere been found in
the pyramids, is an objection to taking this for a serddb.
Towering above the vast necropolis at Memphis, the mammoth form of
the Sphinx, the god of the rising sun, and so symbolical of the resurrection,
guards the silent population of mummied kings and priests, and introduces us
to the vast army of Egyptian gods (Fig. i). The devout spirit of the ancient
Egyptians towards their gods is evident : most of their manuscripts are of a
religious character; and, even in their profane literature, mythological names
and references appear on nearly every line. The national spirit was full of
reverential thoughts concerning the gods ; and expressions of praise, and en-
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DEITIES OF EGYPT. 15
thusiasm for their works, abound. Local deities were worshipped in the differ-
ent cities ; and, as each city came to take the lead in state, the local god seems
to attain pre-eminence in the great Egyptian Pantheon.43 But though texts,
reliefs, and inscribed statues abound in the Pharaonic temples, yet great mys-
tery hangs over these divinities ; and their central religious thought is obscure
to us, as it was to the masses of antiquity. We seem everywhere to be met
with the famous inscription of Neith at SaYs,44 "I am that which is, that
which will be, and which has been ; and no mortal has ever raised the veil
which covered me." Glimmering through this obscurity, Egyptologists think
that a belief in one God can be traced, at the time of Egypt's highest political
power, in a pantheistic sun-worship, shared, however, only by the initiated few,
standing on a higher plane. In the fathomless depths of Nu, the primeval
ocean, there moved hither and thither, in chaotic confusion, the genius of all
things ; and, out of this surging mass, the great God, self-generating, produced
himself, and fructified all other beings in heaven and on earth. "Father,
mother, and son in one," to use a favorite Egyptian phrase, " he was the creator
of his own members, which are the gods." 45 These secondary emanations of
the great divinity could, in their turn, produce new gods, and are likewise
grouped in triads of father, mother, and son ; thus indefinitely multiplying the
Pantheon, but passing so imperceptibly one into the other that they have a
shadowy character, far different from the pronounced individuality of the Greek
divinities.
Even the hasty wanderer through our museums is astonished by the mul-
titude of strangely shaped deities present either in life-size statues and tiny
statuettes, or on tattered papyrus and finely chiselled relief. In the British
Museum he can count at least one hundred and forty bronze statuettes of the
mummied form of Osiris, and in every museum he will meet that lion-headed
goddess whose five hundred and seventy-two statues decorated the courts of
the Temple of Mut at Karnak.46 But, more than by their countless numbers,
he will be impressed by the prevailing intermixture of human and animal forms
to represent deity. Human-headed lions or birds alternate with still more sur-
prising medleys of human forms, surmounted by animal heads, be it beast^
bird, or reptile. These were probably symbols of familiar objects and phe-
nomena. Noum the ram-headed is called the " terrible face." Doubtless, as
symbolical of the wide-spread sun-worship, the head of the hawk appears on
all the gods of light, partly, perhaps, on account of the brilliancy of his eyes ;
the hawk-headed Horus at Ombos being said to illumine the world with the
splendor of his orbs. 47 The sharp-eyed vulture may likewise have received
divine honors for his services as a persistent scavenger, warding off pestilence
by cleaning the land of the putrid carcasses stranded after the overflow.48
Similar causes, doubtless, led to the reverence of the ancient Egyptian for the
ox and other useful animals, as well as for inanimate objects. The regard
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regara t
v^oogle
1 5 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
shown by the modem fellah for these animals, still so necessary for his land,
may perhaps indicate the spirit of this most ancient religion of the Nile,
.^^--^uch of this animal worship in Egypt may find further explanation in the
singular belief, so difficult for us moderns to imagine, that the sacred animals
were the doubles of the gods?) The bull Apis, the most perfect incarnation
of divinity in animal form, was called the second life of Ptah and the soul of
Osiris; and when the sacred animal, carefully tended in a temple, died, he
became Osiris, and his name Osar-Hapi, out of which the Greeks made Sarapis.
/ As time advanced, these symbols of the gods in animal shape may have
come to express certain abstract qualities, supposed to be characteristic of the
divinities. Thoughtful priests, perhaps, imagined into them mysterious mean-
ings. In the texts, animals express mental functions, supposed to be inherent
in deity. Thus sheep, kynokephalos, jackal, and crocodile meant respectively
terror, adroitness, anger, — subjective qualities and powers which the heads of
these animals may have expressed when placed on the human form of the
deity.49^
C Upon art, this extensive use of religious symbolism could not fail to exer-
cise a depressing influence. A symbol cannot appeal directly to our feelings
as does a pure work of art : it must first receive its interpretation. However
much, then, the Egyptian may have imagined into his countless and incon-
gruous figures, they could not fail to exclude him from the purely ideal world,
and will ever remain unattractive to the lover of what is great and true in
religious art. In the Egyptian ritual the cat appears as the destroyer of nox-
ious vermin ; and the artist uses her head on the shoulders of the goddess of
purification, whose statues lined the temple-courts at Karnak, — symbols of the
purity required of those who entered within their walls. 50 But who on behold-
ing these cat-headed monsters, arranged before the sacred place, shoulder to
shoulder, would, without having read the "Book of the Dead," receive even
the faintest impression of their symbolical import^
Moreover, the Egyptian gods are not actors in a mythology which appeals
to our poetic sense. In most of the texts, Ra, Ammon, Hathor, and Mut are
impossible beings ; their life offers no change ; they never break their eternal
speechlessness, except to repeat to king or deceased some stereotyped formula
of benediction. Egyptologists tell us, that " Egyptian myth has no charm in
itself; that brilliant imagination and sparkling freshness, so peculiar to the
oldest Greek poets, is foreign to its puerile details." 5« The dynasties of the
gods have their episodes, which are but the counterfeits of the reigns of mortal
kings. The god has his court-minister, his army, and navy. His eldest son
and heir-apparent commands the troops. His prime-minister, also a god and
the discoverer of letters, has rhetoric and geography at his command, and is
court-historian as well. He records the royal god's victories, and gives them
pleasant, high-sounding names. When the god fights the monster Typhon,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
MATERIALS USED FOR SCULPTURE.
17
he uses no supernatural weapons, but, with his archers, sails against him up
the Nile, makes carefully planned marches and counter-marches, fights
battles and conquers cities, until all Egypt is at his feet, — and all this as any
Pharaoh would have subdued Ethiopia or Arabia. Although many of these
historical fictions were, doubtless, greatly elaborated at a late date, still their
origin in the national religion is from very early times ; such mythological
scenes having been found to line a part of the tomb of Seti Ls* The Egyp-
tian mind being, then, thus attached __^ ^^ _ ^ ^
to symbols, and prosaically historical '- " . -^- > ' ^^ 5 *^
in its turn, it is not strange that the \
artists were held to fictitious and arbi-
trary forms, especially when we re-
member the nature of their land, and
their isolation for ages.
The materials with which the
Egyptian artist worked also show
most clearly their influence ; and,
even if his artistic gifts had been of
a livelier and more poetic sort than
they actually were, the task which he
chose was attended with insurmounta-
ble difficulties.
Clay was indeed furnished by the
Nile valley in abundance, but unbaked
figures in this material are most per-
ishable; and the process of firing is
so difficult that only small figures
can be produced with success.
Of woods, sycamore and acacia
grew in Egypt, and were used, as
we shall see, throughout its history,
for statues and statuettes. These
wooden figures we always find much
freer in movement than the works in stone; the arms and legs not being
" reserved," as in the latter, but carved fully in the round, and detached from
the body, so as to give an agreeable impression of life. A glimpse at the
Sheik-el-Beled (Fig. 2), of the earliest period of Egyptian art ; at the wooden
figures of the British Museum, of a much later day; as well as at wooden
spoons, like that of the New- York Historical Rooms, representing a girl swim-
ming,— well illustrates this greater freedom.
Bronze, an importation from Asia, was sparingly used, as the diminutive
size of the monuments in that metal shows; but its treatment was likewise ^
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig. 2. Sheik-el'Beted. Boolak. Cairo,
i8
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
free from those encumbrances which make figures in granite and limestone
stiff and uncouth. Bronzes often have much motion, and easy flow of line,
as appears in the figure of the negro, of the New- York Historical Rooms,
who kneels with arms fastened behind (Fig. 3).
But fine-grained marble, of all stones best suited for plastic forms, was
lacking in Egyptian quarries ; the only marble being a coarse black variety,
but little used. The Egyptian was, therefore, forced to use hard and soft
calcareous stone, or the harder materials, porphyry, basalt, serpentine, and
diorite, — all of which were found in the mountains of the Eastern desert, —
besides granite quarried at the First Cataract. For the Pharaoh, it was natural
that the harder stones should have been chosen ; the great distances from
which the blocks were brought, as well as the extreme difficulty in working
them, greatly enhancing the value of the statues. This
fashion, set by the Pharaoh, would naturally be followed
by those who were in any degree able so to do.
But these harder stones cannot be worked like
marble, with gentle and finely regulated blows. The
sculptor in marble brings into requisition chisels graded
to his use, and driven by a light hammer; thus pro-
ducing broader or heavier lines, the finer touches being^
given without the use of the hammer. With the borer,
worked like an auger, deep or shallow channels are cut ;
the steady, screw-like motion not exposing the statue to
the danger of breakage. The well-modelled surface is
then gone over with files of different grades, wielded as
the painter would his brush, and making fine lines,
which follow the swell and fall of the muscles. To
reduce these lines to uniformity, the surface is, accord-
ing to the present mode of working, usually polished off with emery. After
careful study of early Egyptian monuments of the Louvre, M. Soldi, himself a
sculptor and gem-cutter, has found no signs of the use of the borer and file,
and hence infers that these instruments were not known to the Egyptians, at
least until a very late date ; the use of the chisel being also very limited.53
The Egyptian sculptors, choosing the hardest stones for their statues of
Pharaohs, were obliged to deal heavy blows with a ponderous instrument upon
a coarse point, thus shivering off the rock bit by bit. We see this long, oval-
shaped mallet frequently pictured in scenes where statues are being executed,
not only from tombs of the Memphitic period, but also those of the much
later Eighteenth Dynasty (Fig. 4). The materials of which these tools were
composed is also a question of interest. At present, steel among metals alone
cuts granite and diorite ; and it seems improbable that the ancient Egyptians
made a bronze sufficiently hard to cut these rocks. Experiments made in
Digitized by V^OOQIC
fig. 8, Knteltng Figure. Bronze.
Neuf-York Hiatortcal Rooms.
EFFECT OF MATERIAL ON SCULPTURE. I9
France with Egyptian bronze failed to cut stone ; confirming the belief, that
only steel or stone could have been used. But whether iron and steel were
known and used in early Egypt, is still a disputed question. It is, however,
agreed by all, that silex, which cuts granite, although slowly, was used down
to latest times.54
But, whatever the tools used by the ancient Egyptians may have been, it
is evident that their primitiveness, together with the obduracy of the stone,
were serious impediments in carrying out finely mod-
elled details. The work was like a sketch broadly
blocked out by the shivering process, the defects of
which were covered by polishing. Monuments actu-
ally show this polishing going on with oval, egg-
shaped objects, or broad, flat disks, which are evi-
dently used with water and powdered sandstone.
Finally, with emery must have been produced that
shiny finish, still seen on Egyptian statues, which, to
the casual observer, has an elaborately fine look, but
is, in reality, only a cloak for lack of artistic details. ^'fi^* ^ ^^^'"^ *» *'*^''*- ^'*'**
-^ , . - , rr . , r teenth Dynasty,
But, besides thus affecting the surface treatment,
these obdurate materials, doubtless, also have much to answer for in the con-
straint of most Egyptian compositions. The sculptor was in constant danger,
while hammering, of giving too heavy a blow, and of destroying what he was
seeking to represent. The statue would, consequently, be planned so that it
might least be exposed to such risk, or any subsequent disaster. In relief,
where no such danger impended, we see the sculptor represent lively action :
he makes the beard hang loosely from the chin, and the arm extend with staff
in hand. In statuary in hard stone, on the contrary, the pose is quiet ; at most
the left leg is advanced, as in walking ; the beard clings to the chest ; the hair
is fast to the shoulder ; the arms and legs are " reserved ; " and, in sculptures
of the Theban and later periods, a pilaster-like support runs up behind the
whole, protecting the weighty head, the neck and legs, and at the same time
offering a convenient space for dedicatory inscriptions, but dooming the statue
to be but a lifeless imitation of nature. Finally, a pasty coating of opaque
color, serving to protect the surface, prevented that charming play of detail
which forms one of the chief attractions of Greek works. Traces of red still
remain on the famous Memnon statue, the portrait of Amenophis III., and on
great numbers of figures less widely known.55
The remote prehistoric cycles were to the Egyptians their Golden Age,
when successive dynasties of the gods, dwelling among men, ruled over them
in person. In like manner history proper is divided up into dynasties of
kings, introduced, according to Manetho, by Menes, and continuing through t
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20 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
thousands of years, embracing thirty dynasties of Pharaonic rule. Many of
these had but a short duration, while others extended over centuries. Their
number is confusing ; but, grouped in certain grand constellations, Egyptian
history assumes a clearer shape.
Pharaonic Egypt had three great periods, each of which is associated with
some prominent and ruling city.56 The first of these periods, during which
Memphis was the central point, is called the Memphitic, or Ancient Empire,
and lasted from the First to the Eleventh Dynasty.
The transfer of the seat of power up the Nile to Thebes has given its
name to the second, or Theban, period, which comprised the Dynasties from
the Eleventh to about the Twenty-first. This age, the most brilliant of all,
was overcast at its middle by the invasion and rule of the Shepherd Kings, or
Hyksos, said to have lasted more than five hundred years.
But, the empire of Thebes falling to decay, the cities of the Delta, Tanis,
Bubastis, Mendes, Sebennytos, and SaYs, disputed the sovereignty. The latter
city, as most successful in this rivalry, may give its name to the last era of
Pharaonic rule, the Saltic period, which continued from the Twenty-second to
the Thirtieth Dynasty.
Finally, with the Greek conquest and occupation of the land by Alexander,
the old traditional civilization began to wane. This process went on uninter-
ruptedly under Roman rule until the last blow was given in 381 A.D. by the
Emperor Theodosius I., who prohibited the worship of the ancient gods, and
by an edict ordered the^ destruction of the images, and made Christianity the
established religion of j^he land.
The dawa of Egyptian history, associated with the rule of Menes, fades
away in prehistoric times. Mariette and Maspero, believing that the thirty
dynasties enumerated by Manetho comprise only the reigns of the legitimate
rulers, and, consequently, successors in continuous line, give the date of Menes
as about five thousand years B.C. Others, Lepsius and Brugsch, believing that
some of the dynasties mentioned by Manetho are synchronous, place Menes
at about 3500 B.C., or somewhat earlier. Even this more recent date makes
the Egypt of the Memphitic period, with its monuments, gleam out like a light-
house in the midst of the profound night which covered the rest of the world
at that time.
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CHAPTER IL
THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE.
Historical Introduction. — Funereal Character of Sculptures. — Oldest Statues from Gizeh. — Lifelike-
ness of Statues from this Age, and General Characteristics. — Ra-hotep and Nefert. — Sheik-el-
Beled, or Ra-emka and his Wife. — Ra-nefer. — The Scribe of the Louvre. — Head of Old Digni-
tary in the British Museum. — Dwarf in Boolalc. — Other Statues. — Bronzes. — Hollow Casting. —
Groups — Statues in Hard Stone. — King Chephren. — Variety in those Oldest Works. — Freedom
from Conventionality. — Stocky Forms. — Greater Freedom due to Material, and to Desire for Exact
Portraits. — Lack of Feeling or Expression in Faces. — Statues of this Olden Time not Architec-
tural.— Reliefs from Tomb of Ti. — Superiority of Animal to Human Forms. — Wooden Panels
from Tomb at Sakkarah. — Effects of Hieroglyphic Writing on Art. — Reason for Lowness of
Relief. — Colors used. — Rarity of Representations of Gods. — The God Thoth, Sinai. — The Great
Sphjnx.
In the Memphitic or oldest period of Egyptian history, the remarkable fact
meets us of a civilization developed on the banks of the Nile which should not
be surpassed in its subsequent stages.
The first three Dynasties are veiled in obscurity, yet there are indications
that society was then in a formative state.
The first king of the Fourth Dynasty, Snefroo, whose reign is quoted in the
monuments as the earliest landmark of history, enriched the land by causing
the copper and turquoise mines of Sinai to be worked, and went on conquering-
expeditions against his negro enemies in the south. But more brilliant were
the succeeding reigns of Khoofoo, Khafra, and Menkara, or, as the Greeks
called them, Cheops, Chephren, and Mykerinos, the builders of the great pyra-
mids, the most prominent rulers of the ancient empire, and the patrons also of
literature, art, and science.
Throughout the Fifth Dynasty the flourishing condition of Egypt seems to
have been uninterrupted ; but, during the Sixth Dynasty, we see the signs of
coming trouble, heralding that obscurity which, between the Sixth and Eleventh
Dynasties, settled upon the land. In vain have been all efforts to explain satis-
factorily this strange blank. Some have imagined that a foreign invasion,
sweeping all before it, brought this blight upon the land.57
The sculptures of this Memphitic period are, with very few exceptions,
funereal in character, ajid come from the tombs of that vast cemetery of ancient
Memphis which stretches from Gizeh away to the south of Meidoom^^^Q^g
22 EGYPTIAN SCULFFURE.
numerous statues, mute inhabitants of this vast city of the dead, owe their
inspiration to that most curious belief in the Ka^ described above (p. 9), in
consequence of which the greatest lifelikeness was sought to be obtained in
the statues of the deceased.
Although there must have been a time when the Egyptian sculptor was still
a novice in his art, still seeking for modes of expression, this period of begin-
ning is veiled from our view. In the oldest existing monuments, there is
scarcely a sign of such inexperience, when the A B C of the technique was
being learned.
From the three earliest Dynasties, no monuments which can with cer-
tainty be dated have been discovered: nor were it strange had none sur-
vived; for, even early in the Fourth Dynasty, older works had so fallen to
decay as to require reparation; Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid,
having then, according to inscriptions, restored a temple, and renewed its
statues. 58
There is, however, a group of statues of so primitive and undecided a style,
that they have been assigned to that remotest time when society was probably
in a formative state. Several of these figures from the tombs of Gizeh, in soft
limestone, are now in the Louvre. Two of them are almost identical, and,
according to the inscription, represent Sepa, an ancient functionary, a "prophet
and priest of the white bull." A third is Nesa, a lady in tightly fitting gar-
ments, a " relative of the king," and, doubtless, the wife of Sepa. Both male
and female wear heavy wigs, and carry their arms most stiflBy. We seem
to see the crude and unsuccessful attempts of the sculptor to imitate nature,
while in the faces we catch no individuality of expression. But even here
the sculptor has tried to represent figures fully in the round, and without that
support at the back always met with in stone statues of much later periods.
The tendency seems to be, to have the surfaces square and unrounded:
the much developed lateral muscles of the thigh and calf we find, however,
occupied the sculptor's attention ; but the hands and feet are always feebly
given. Green paint, a peculiarity of the oldest time, is still to be seen about
the eyes and bracelets. Another archaic statue, now in Berlin, is that of the
official Amten. A few other less-known archaic figures have been found in
these tombs of Memphis, and are now in Boolak, all marked by this curious
band of green paint as well as by undecided and feeble execution. 59
But the majority of the works from the oldest tombs are marked by singu-
lar skill of workmanship, and lifelikeness in the faces. Of these the eminent
Fergusson says, "Nothing more wonderfully truthful and realistic has been
done, till the invention of photography ; and even that can hardly represent a
man with such unflattering truthfulness as these old portraits of the rich, sleek
men of the pyramid period." The most of these figures represent dignitaries
of state, civil and religious ; one of a cook, or master of the wardrobe, suggest-
Digitized by V^OOvlC
TOMB STATUES OF THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE. 23
Fig. 6. Portrait Statues of Ra-hotep and Nefert.
Boolak. Cairo.
ing the prominent part played by the chief baker in the story of Joseph in
Egypt. Not infrequently their wives, sisters, and children appear with these
lords of the land. We see these tomb-figures in various positions, some seated
on high chairs, others on the ground with
legs crossed, and having on their knees a
partly unrolled papyrus, doubtless repre-
senting the "Book of the Dead," for the
guidance of departed souls : again, they ap-
pear writing, like the famous Scribe in the
Louvre. Occasionally they are found kneel-
ing, with hands folded, and very frequently
standing with left foot advanced, and baton
of command in hand, or with both hands
hanging at the side, holding papyrus-rolls.
Most ancient among these are those re-
markable limestone figures in Boolak, some-
what less than life-size, representing Ra-
hotep, " a prince of the blood and general
of infantry," and his sister or wife in a
snow-white garment (Fig. 5). These two
statues, seated side by side, were found in a tomb at Meidoom. The archaic
form of this structure, and the occurrence of the name of Snefroo, first king of
the Fourth Dynasty, in a neighboring
tomb of similar build, make it certain
that these admirable statues date back
from that remotest historic past.^ In
Ra-hotep*s statue, hands and feet, the
stumbling-block of the Egyptian sculp-
tor, are sadly defective ; but the close-
ly shorn head, and animated face with
its intent, upward gaze, have a forcible
naturalness, which extends as well to
the strong frame, and distended mus-
cles of the arm, raised as if gesturing.
The profile (Fig. 6) of this ancient sol-
dier, whose military glory dates from
so many thousands of years ago, awak-
ens much respect for his character,
but more for the artist who has caught
and rendered it so well. The Lady
Nefert (the beautiful) is simply styled the " relative of the king." Although
she sits silent, her arms folded across her chest, still, on gazing into her eyes of .
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 6. Profile of Ra-hotep.
24
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
crystal (Fig. 7), and watching her speaking lips, we seem to know her very
thoughts. Her bunchy coiffure reminds one that it was usual in those
ancient days to wear a wig instead of the modern turban, as protection against
the scorching sun. Nefert's closely fitting snow-white garment beautifully
suggests a form in keeping with her rich, voluptuous face. A necklace,
and band about her hair, are all the ornaments she wears ; the grace of her
whole appearance being due to charms
the sculptor has evidently caught from
life.
To a somewhat later period, the
Fifth Dynasty, belongs that celebrated
wooden figure, now in Boolak, which,
at the Paris exposition of 1867, startled
the modern world from its false dream
as to the rigidity and cold conservatism
of all Egyptian statuary. This statue
(Fig. 2, p. 17), about i.io meter in
height, with its round, intelligent face
and obese form, shows us, not one of
the attenuated, wiry, southern Egyp-
tians, but a type frequent among the
villages of the Delta, When first dis-
covered, the Arabs were struck with
its resemblance to their own corpulent
village chief, and at once called it
Sheik-el-Beled (village chief). Although the lower part of the statue, with its
inscription, is lost, and the legs had to be restored, we learn from the tomb in
which it was found, that one Ra-em-ka, a man who had held, among other
offices, that of governor of several provinces under different kings of the Fifth
Dynasty, was buried there. Ra-em-ka's front and back are strongly portrait-
like, and detailed in execution ; although the coating of stucco and paint is now
gone. We see a man who has become corpulent with increasing years, but
whose fat sags as he grows old. Around his waist is bound a short petticoat,
lying in folds in front, the rest of his form being nude, as was natural in a hot
climate. The naturalness of the body is intensified in the round head, with its
short hair, and speaking mouth and eyes, animated as by a smile. The con-
struction of the eyes makes them lifelike to an almost disturbing degree. They
are of that peculiar and somewhat intricate workmanship, employed in Cheops'
time,^' in which envelopes of bronze served as lids, into which was inserted a
piece of opaque white quartz. Into this was introduced another piece of
crystal, having in its middle a shining nail, which gives the eye its startling
and lifelike expression.
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig. 7. Face of NefeH.
TOMB STATUES OF THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE. 25
The figure of Ra-em-ka's wife, of blacker wood, and found in the same tomb,
has, on the other hand, a different character. Although head and torso alone
are preserved, we can nevertheless detect in this less realistic fragment an ele-
gance lacking in the comfortable form of the worthy spouse himself. Clothed
with a tight robe, her body resembles that of Egyptian women of to-day, hav-
ing slender hips and lean arms.
The statue of Ra-nefer, likewise an official of the Fifth Dynasty, and,
according to the inscription, a priest of Ptah and Sokar, is of quite a different
character from that of the jovial Ra-em-ka. In his limestone statue at Boolak,
1.73 meter in height, Ra-nefer stands before us in hieratic attitude, with left
foot advanced, both arms dropped at his side, and holding tightly in each hand
a papyrus-rod. Around his loins is a scant apron, the Egyptian shentu His
face has speaking portrait features ; and his form, skilfully rendered, is like that
of the modern fellah of upper Egypt, lean, as if dried by the burning sun under
which he lived.
The famous Scribe of the Louvre (Fig. 8) is better known than the statues
thus far discussed. This limestone figure is seated in Turkish fashion, an atti-
tude by no means easy to express in
sculpture. This speaking face and
lean form belong to Skemka, the
scribe, who seems here busily en-
gaged with his professional duties, as
he, doubtless, often was in life, while
recording for his master. A reddish
tone covers his skin, and his eye is of
the intricate workmanship of many
statues of this time.
From this unattractive face let us
turn to regard that magnificent frag-
ment in the British Museum, the head
of a benignant old aristocrat in cal-
careous stone (Fig. 9). We see here
how admirably the ancient sculptor
performed the task — confessedly one
of unusual difficulty — of portraying character in life-size forms. A certain
kindliness of expression, combined with the flaccidity of age in the skin, sug-
gests the work of some Egyptian Holbein. The large, wavy wig, the fresh
naturalness in treatment, as well as the site of discovery, Memphis, mark this
nobleman as a representative of the pyramid period. This and other works
prove, that, in statues of that earliest time, the ear had its natural position in
the head, and that the eyes were not elongated by strips extending to the cars,
or the eyebrows xpressed by elevated bands, as they were in much later ,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
flij. 8. The Scribe. Louore.
26
EGYFriAN SCULPTURE.
statues, like the colossal rose-granite head of Thothmes III., in the British
Museum (Fig. 25). The rare rendering of the skin in this Memphitic head is
never met with in late Egyptian works, seldom even in Graeco-Roman art, but
constitutes one of the royal peculiarities of Greek art in its prime.
A remarkable statue of a dwarf, now in Boolak, might be taken to represent
one who had held the position of court-fool, as this office existed under the
Pharaohs. The inscription tells us, however, that he was either a cook or chief
of perfumers, Nem-hotep by name ; and judging from the beauty of the tomb
he has built for himself, near the pyra-
mids where his statue was found, he
must have enjoyed great favor and
wealth. There is nothing conven-
tional in his freely moving legs and
arms. The thick-set, corpulent form
of this grotesque figure seems full of
life, as we see him rolling along with
straddling gait, his mouth encircled by
an expression of satirical humor.^'*
Besides these statues, there are
many others of humbler type from this
remote date, but no less interesting on
account of their varied and pleasing
character. These works, representing
servants or mourners, unlike the statues
of their masters, have great diversity
of pose. We see a youth on his knees
(Fig. 10), rolling out bread, doubtless
for his master, interred in the tomb.
Form and face are those of the un-
gainly dwellers on the Nile; but his
limbs are well rounded, his pose nat-
ural, and instinct with free life. So,
also, a remarkable collection of six statues, now in the Boolak Museum, each
about forty-two centimeters high, reveal the ancient sculptor's skill in repre-
senting various position s.^^ We see the cook with hands deep in the dough, or
on bended knees rolling it out. These statues could scarcely seem more life-
like did we recall the fact, recorded by Mariette, that in Nubia, even to-day,
women wear the same head-dress, — take the same pose, and use the same kind
of utensils, in making bread.
Another figure, seated on the ground with both knees up, holds between
them a vase, into which he thrusts his right hand. Another sits with both
knees up, and one arm thrown over his head, as though in the attitude of
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 9. British Museum.
TOMB STATUES OF THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE. 2^
mourning. Still another quietly kneels on the ground, with hands folded to-
gether, and a smiling, expectant look on his face. A youth carries a sack over
one shoulder, and holds a bunch of flowers in the free hand. This figure upsets
the theory once held, that the Egyptians never represented the human form in
entire nudity.
But, besides these statues in wood and stone, a few in bronze have also been
discovered which seem to mount up to this high antiquity. The use of bronze
in Egypt, at a very early date, is confirmed by inscriptions as old as the pyra-
mids, and the discovery of this metal in the Great Pyramid, as well as the
existence of the bronze ferule from Pepi*s sceptre (Sixth Dynasty), now in the
British Museum.
A bronze, sixty-seven centimeters high, belonging to M. Gustave Posno,
has the stocky form, round features, and thick hair, of the wood and stone
statues of the Memphitic period, be-
sides their careful rendering of the
muscles of arms and legs, as well as
details of the knee. The technical
perfection of this figure is most note-
worthy. The oldest existing bronzes
from Greece or Etruria are rudely cast
in one solid mass ; but, in this bronze
figure of thousands of years ago, we
have the perfected and far more skilful
hollow casting, all the irregularities of
the surface being repeated in the in-
terior. Trunk, legs, and head are in
one piece, the arms alone being at-
tached; and yet the bronze is thin
and light, the outer surface being skilfully finished by the use of chisellers*
tools. 63
Besides such single statues, there are many groups, ofEering in their compo-
sition the original motives for later works. Sometimes the man is represented
as seated, his wife standing beside him, and having one arm over his shoulder
as if to express affection.
The bulk of statues from the Memphitic period are in wood, or soft calcare-
ous stone. But still others have been found in hardest diorite and basalt.
Such are the eight statues of King Chephren, the builder of the second pyra-
mid. These were discovered in a well full of water in the so-called Temple of
the Great Sphinx, and are now in the Boolak collection. In the most famous
of these the sculptor has represented the king in somewhat more than life-
size, 1.06 meter in height (Fig. 11). The inscription on the pedestal removes
all doubt as to its being a representation of the all-ruling Chephren, who sits
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 10. Boy Kneading, Boolak, Cairo.
28 EGYFriAN SCULPTURE.
before us on a rich throne, with the grave dignity of one believed to be a god.
The arms of his throne end in lions' heads, its legs in claws ; and its sides are
decorated with the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt, — stalks of lotus and
papyrus, twined about the letter standing for union. Unlike the statues of
common men of this Memphitic age, the heads of many of which are bare, or
covered with a cumbrous wig, here a stiffly regular head-dress, the royal klaft^
surmounts the locks in front ; and the sacred hawk, with outstretched wings,
hovers over the back of the head ; while a square-shaped beard hangs from the
chin. Although there seems an attempt
here to raise the figure of the king above
the common herd, yet the portrait features
are unmistakable ; and he appears as he did
while ruling among men. The broad shoul-
ders, vigorous chest, and thoroughly executed
knees, show in the sculptor a powerful hand,
little baffled by the obdurate material, a stone
even harder than porphyry. The fragment
of another of these statues of King Cheph-
ren, a head in basalt, also at Boolak, repre-
sents this god-king in the wane of life, aged
and wrinkled, but with all the dignity of the
statue just described.
Although there is something monot-
onous in the frequent repetition of seated
and kneeling statues, the variety of pose is
greater than in later art ; and there is little
of that constraint given to later statues by
the invariable pilaster left at the back.
The sense of nature indicated by the curv-
ing shoulders and the swelling back of
statues of this period in the British Museum is most pleasing, and disproves
the assertion, that Egypt did not and could not produce full statues in the
round.
In all these statues of the Memphitic age, with their varied poses, speak-
ing faces, naturalistic forms, the artist's freedom is apparent. Frequently the
only conventionalism suggested by these heads is seen in the arrangement of
the wig, doubtless following the prevailing fashion, which seems frequently to
have been changed. According to Mariette, in the Third, and early part of the
Fourth, Dynasty, the wig is large, spreading out over the shoulders, but gener-
ally leaving the ears uncovered : later, the round, smiling, kindly face peers out
from a wig which more frequently covers the ears.
In these ancient statues the form is, as a rule, stocky and thick-set, having
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 11. King Chephren. Boolak. Cairo.
TOMB STATUES OF THE MEMPHITIC OR ANCIENT EMPIRE. 29
lean extremities ; and great care may be noticed in the representation of many
parts, e,g., the muscles about the knee-pan. Thus, in the sturdy walking figure
in the British Museum from Gizeh,64 there is a careful study of nature. Veins,
and gentle tissues of skin, are indeed wanting on this tawny body ; and we can-
not expect, in the lean form of the usual Egyptian, subjected to this hot climate,
to find all the delicate play of transparent skin and full-flowing muscle pos-
sessed by people of a moister clime. The favorite material of this ancient
empire, wood and soft limestone, as much easier to manipulate than the hard
granite, porphyry, etc., may acqpunt for much of the admirable freedom in the
sculptor's work. The sycamore, acacia, and ebony in use, were, it must be
remembered, in the dry climate of Egypt, nearly as imperishable as stone, and
were made still more enduring, as well as lifelike, by a fine coating of gauze,
over which was placed a thin layer of stucco, afterwards painted and gilded.
Even stone received color whose brilliancy is often well preserved, as admirably
illustrated in the treasures of Boolak.
But, while thus faithfully portraying life, it must be said, that the sculptors
of the Ancient Empire, like their successors, do not go beyond the simple rep-
resentation of existence ; the passions and emotions being seldom, if ever,
expressed. We may almost believe, that passion could not have furrowed the
ancient Egyptian's brow, so calm is the language of his art. His lifelike, real-
istic statues can never enkindle that enthusiasm produced by works in which
poetic grace, masterly composition, and soul expression, combine to charm the
eye. But, to do justice to those old carvers, let us bear in mind the limits
placed upon them by the prosaic spirit of their practical countrymen, who
required faithful counterfeits of themselves for their tombs. The physique and
phystognomy of his race, not graceful and beautiful, but ungainly, were, there-
fore, of untold influence upon the sculptor. Granted, moreover, that he had
been capable of so doing, he would have had little encouragement to represent
heroic action, and create ideal artistic works, knowing that they were to be for-
ever buried in the tomb, to keep company with the mummy. Moreover, to the
Egyptians excited action or great emotion would have been unbecoming in the
image of him who simply awaited the dawn of that day when he should again
see body and soul united.
We are, moreover, surprised to find, that the statues of that olden time are
in no way subservient to the architecture, neither decorating nor supporting it.
Imprisoned in the serddb^ they are found arranged in rows along the wall, as
though awaiting the service to be paid them ; as much freedom as is possible
being given each statue without exposing it to breakage.
But, leaving the statues and groups in the dark serd&bs they inhabited, let
us glance at the gayly hued reliefs lining the tomb-chapels of this ancient
period. In later times an army of strange, fantastic gods invaded the chamber ;
but, in these older tombs, every thing is as little funereal as possible ; and we
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
30
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
Fig. 12, Relief from TCa Tomb* Sakkarah,
look in vain for even a single representation of the divinity on the walls. Rep-
resentative of these reliefs are the carefully carved and gayly painted scenes
preserved for us in the tomb of Ti, discovered at Sakkarah. Ti, we axe in-
formed by the inscription on his stele, was a civil dignitary of highest rank,
serving under three monarchs of the Fifth Dynasty. In addition to high civil
honors, he also held an important sacerdotal office at the tombs of the kings
of the pyramids of Abusir. His
figure appears repeatedly on the
Avails of his chapel, now surround-
ed by his friends, now superin-
tending various rural scenes. \Ve
see him being entertained by
music and dancing. Again, he
is shooting aquatic birds in the
marshes, or hunting hippopotami
from a papyrus-boat. Fish sport
in the water; and birds sit on
their nests, or fly about among
the papyrus. In another place Ti's form towers up among pastoral scenes.
An overseer gives orders for milking ; and well has the artist caught the im-
pudent kick of the tethered calf, the beauty of a flock of downy cranes (Fig. 12),
and stolid life of a drove of asses (Fig. 13), carved here to delight the eyes of
Ti in his long home. In one case a driver, provoked by the stubbornness of a
dumb array of asses, utters the well-deserved threat, " People love those who
go quickly, but strike the lazy."
Other scenes on the tomb-walls represent the transportation of Ti's statue,
and the wafting of incense by friends at the opening of the serddb. Hiero-
glyphics offer explanations here also,
such as "This is the statue in thorn
acacia," or " This is the statue in ebony
they are drawing." " The servants pour
water " is the inscription opposite a ser-
vant who is wetting the runners on
which the statue is being dragged.
The superiority of the brute to the
human form is noticeable in all these
reliefs, as well as of Ti's portrait-like face to his body. This latter defect may
be seen in another set of reliefs of older date, but of superior execution, on the
four wooden panels discovered at Sakkarah in Hosi's tomb.^S They represent
scribes, favorites of the king ; the one before a table of offering being Pekh-
hesi, the standing one Ra-hesi (Fig. 14). These panels lined mock doors, such
as are found on the west side of every tomb, and seem intended as an entrance
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig. 13. Asses In Relief In Tl'a Tomb. Sakkarah.
RELIEFS FROM HOSI'S TOMB.
31
to the world of shades beyond the setting sun. Unlike the usual stone linings
of the chapels, these reliefs from Hosi's tomb are of wood ; and the tomb itself
was constructed of unbaked yellow brick, — facts which indicate its very great
age, although the artistic skill manifested surpasses that in later reliefs.
Seated or standing, the human figure is taller and more slender than the usual
representation of the people of this ancient empire. The finely formed por-
trait heads, aquiline noses, strongly marked jawbones, thin lips, and arching
insteps, have nothing in common with the round noses, full lips, stocky forms,
and flat feet, of other tomb-reliefs from the pyramid period. The detailed
anatomy about the collar-
bones is well-nigh unique in
Egyptian relief, and shows a
truly artistic hand. And yet
these excellences are united
to strange defects. The head,
in profile, rests on shoulders
in full front view ; while loins
and legs are twisted back
again into profile. There
seems here an avoiding of
difficulties, and a simple rep-
resentation of things without
regard to their actual appear-
ance.
In explanation of these
faults, so prevalent in all
Egyptian relief, it should be
remembered, that the human
figure formed a part of the
writing, as may be seen on
these very wooden reliefs
from Hosi's tomb (Fig. 14).
The human form, thus made
to stand for definite ideas, and fixed in faulty forms during the infancy of art,
could not have been changed without causing confusion in the meaning. It
would, therefore, naturally become, in the course of time, inviolate. Repeated
attempts to introduce a truer profile are seen in reliefs of different ages, but
the innovations of random artists were not accepted ; and it may, doubtless,
with truth be said, that in relief, at least, "writing killed art/*^^
Throughout these reliefs the colossal form of the all-important tomb-
owner towers up among the minor actors, scattered over the walls ; and the
explanatory inscriptions among them give the reliefs still more the character
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 14. V.'ooien Linings of Doors from Tomb of Host. Boolak. Cairo,
32 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
of a very detailed written story, lacking in poetry of form. It is most evident,
that the sculptor did not intend to present graceful and ideal scenes, but
simply strove to make vivid what he daily witnessed, arranging his matter
according to the horizontal and perpendicular lines of the writing. The dread
of destruction of these reliefs doubtless influenced the Egyptian to make
them very low ; and, although architectural harmony of effect was thus secured,
the sculptures necessarily received a sketchy and summary treatment. To
make more emphatic the relief, the artist had recourse to various expedients.
Did he wish to indicate projecting eyebrows, he prolonged them in a slightly
raised line to the ear ; did he wish to indicate the arm across the chest, he
separated it by two depressions in the body, following the outline of the arm ;
and, finally, what sculpture could not represent, he brought out by color.^^
In executing this multitude of scenes, as we learn from an unfinished tomb
removed to Berlin by Lepsius, the surface to be worked up was first covered
by regular squares in red. In these a scribe sketched in red ochre a few out-
lines of the subjects to be represented. This drawing was then filled out by
an inferior workman, still in red. A more skilful hand then passed over it with
black, correcting any errors, thus preparing it for the sculptor's chisel. Finally,
painting came to complete the work ; the most conspicuous tints being black,
reddish brown, pale brown, yellow, light and dark blue, and green, the parts
intended to be white being left the natural color of the stone. Women, if
Egyptians, always have, as the fairer sex, pale-yellow complexions, and men a
heavier reddish-brown skin. Metals receive also conventional colors, iron
being blue, bronze yellow or red : wood is brown, and, when in logs, a greenish
gray. Animals receive more natural colors ; cows, calves, and asses being rep-
resented as black, brown, and dappled. How cheery must have been the im-
pression on the visitor of the chapels, made by all these familiar scenes so
gayly and harmoniously colored !
Artistic representations of the gods are wanting in the tombs of the Mem-
phitic period, although the names of all the gods worshipped in later times are
met with in the inscriptions of this oldest period.^^ gut^ though not pictured
in the tombs, hybrid forms of the gods existed even then ; as we know from one
of the most ancient reliefs extant, discovered on the peninsula of Sinai.^
That being a region rich in mines of copper and turquoise, the Egyptian mon-
archs, at different times, sent thither their armies to conquer the opposing
Asiatics. The tradition was, that the precious minerals in this valley owed
their discovery to an inscription written in the rock, not by the hand of man,
but by the god Thoth himself, — the scribe of the gods and the inventor of
many useful arts and sciences, such as speech, writing, music, and astronomy.
This ancient relief at Sinai (Fig. 15) commemorates the bravery of the great
Cheops (Khoofoo of the Fourth Dynasty), and represents the monarch as attack-
ing a fallen Asiatic in the presence of the god Thoth, who has the head of an
Digitized by V^OOQLC
OLDEST REPRESENTATIONS OF THE GODS.— THE SPHINX.
33
ibis, the bird sacred to that deity, on a full human body. The inscription leaves
no doubt as to the age of this representation of the deity, and reads " Khoom
Khoofoo, the great god, having life and health behind him, subduer of the An
foreigners."
The other representation of deity from this remote age, perhaps the best
known to the modern world of all Egyptian monuments, is the great Sphinx at
Gizeh (Fig, i, p. 14). This most prominent feature of the landscape has been for
thousands of years the object of wonder and veneration, and, as indicated by
an inscription now in the Boolak Museum, even in Cheops' time needed and
received repairs. 7® The colossal form, 652.46 meters long (172 feet), is cut out
of the natural rock, and represents a crouching lion, surmounted by a human
head, parts of which are constructed with layers of massive masonry. Over
the whole, color, seen in Pliny's time, and still evident in places, cast its pro-
tecting brilliant mantle.7» This mysterious ^
Sphinx has been repeatedly excavated from
its shroud of desert sand, and its lofty back
mounted with ladders, but only again to be
half buried from view in the drear waste.
Fully excavated, its gigantic form would
tower up to a height equalling that of a
five-story house; and of the size of the
face we may form some idea from the fact,
that one standing on the upper lobe of
the ear has difficulty in reaching with out-
stretched hand the top of the head. The
Arabs call it " Aboo-I-hol," the Father of
Fear. To the Egyptians of ancient days it was, however, the form of one of
their highest gods, Hor-em-khoo, Horus on the horizon, or the rising sun, and,
watching over the vast necropolis at its feet, may have meant resurrection, and
conquest over death. This gigantic apparition on the borders of the desert,
with its boldness and energy of execution, illustrates powerfully that mysterious
symbolism, so full of high spiritual significance to the Egyptians, but is to us
still full of mystery. Was this giant of the desert the portrait of some king,
like other sphinxes of later days ? Did it have, like the rest, its mate ? And
why did it receive a form so much more colossal than that of all other known
sphinxes ?
While this one monument, and, perhaps, some of the symbolic forms of
the gods, seem to indicate an ideal tendency in the Egyptian mind, the main
character of the sculptures of the Ancient Empire is realistic, and, indeed, dis-
tinctly portrait-like, as we have seen from the study of its tombs.
Fig. 16. ReiiBf of the God Ttioth. Sinai.
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CHAPTER III.
THE THEBAN EMPIRE.
Old Theban Empire. — Historical Introduction. — Change in Art. — Abydos, its Tombs. — Beni-Hassan
and Sioot, Rock-hewn Tombs. — Colossi. — Conventionalism. — 5-*^^//, their Significance. — Reliefs
of this Age. — Statues of Pharaoh. — Statues of Subjects. — Priest of Ammon.— ^/ji/w/. — Hyk-
SOS Monuments. — The New Theban Empire. — Historical Introduction. — Fluctuations of Art. —
Size and Extent of Monuments.— Monolith of Rameses II.— Tomb Temples, Private and Royals
their Contents. — Significance of their Reliefs. — Osiris. — Absence of Serd&bs, — Funereal Temples-
— Temple Reliefs. — Ramesseion. — Colossi in Temples. — Memnon Colossi. — National Sanctua-
ries.— Temples of Luxor and Kamak, th^ir Statues. — Avenues of Sphinxes. — Lion Sphinxes. —
Ram-headed Sphinxes. — Rock Temple at Aboo-Simbel. — Colossi of Rameses the Great. — Statues
of Gods in Temples. — Their Mysterious Form and Numbers. — Statuettes in Private Houses. —
Those in the Sand. — Egyptians' Feeling with Regard to Desert Sand. — Sculptors* Aim at Portrai-
ture.—Khoo-en-aten.— Statue of Rameses IL, Turin. — Rendering of Race Peculiarities. — Dancing
Girl. — Relief of Seti I. — Battle Scenes. — Causes of Shortcomings in Relief at this Time. —
Sculptors. — Mertesen and Aoota. — Sculptors' Models. — Methods of this Age.— ^/jwiw/.
At the close of the four obscure dynasties which terminated the Mem-
phitic period, we find that the centre of empire had passed from Memphis to
Thebes. The era thus introduced lasted through many centuries from the
Eleventh to the Twenfy-first Dynasty, and is divided by the invasion of the
Hyksos or "Shepherd Kings/' into two empires, — first, the Old Theban
Empire, from the Eleventh to the Seventeenth Dynasty ; and, second, the New
Theban Empire, lasting from the Seventeenth to the end of the Twentieth
Dynasty.
With the first kings of the Eleventh Dynasty, Egypt seems to be waking
from a long sleep. Her ancient traditions are apparently half forgotten ; the
proper names, titles, and the writing itself, all seem new ; and, if we may judge
from the monuments, a race of more slender build now occupy the land. The
style of the monuments at first seems rude, but by the Twelfth Dynasty the
mighty forms of the Oosertesens and Amenemhas appear. The boundaries now
extend from the Mediterranean on the north to the land of the Cushites in the
south ; and the stupendous plan is carried out of hoarding up the waters of the
Nile in a lake, the Moeris of the Greeks, a reserve to be used in years of
drought. Monuments, discovered at Tanis and Abydos, show, that under the
Nofre-hoteps and Sebek-hoteps of the Thirteenth Dynasty, as well as during
the following, the Fourteenth Dynasty, Egypt had lost nothing of her political
Digitized by VriOO vie
THE OLD THEBAN EMPIRE.
35
prosperity. But suddenly a people, whom Manetho calls Hyksos, or Shep-
herds, poured in from the coasts of Asia along the frontiers of the Delta, mas-
sacring, plundering temples, and imposing a yoke of blood and iron upon the
northern provinces. For several centuries the Theban kings were probably
tributary to these invaders, who, although they did not extinguish Egyptian
civilization, seem for a while to have
checked its course. The ensuing
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties
bear witness to this blank in their
utter .lack of monuments. By the
Seventeenth Dynasty, however, the
night which had so long hung over
Egypt seems to have yielded to
dawning day. In Lower Egypt the
Hyksos kings still ruled, but the
civilization of the conquered nation
must by that time have re-acted up-
on them in their religion and arts :
they appear to have adorned the
Temple of Tanis with sphinxes, hav-
ing, however, human heads of an
un-Egyptian type (Fig. i6). They
adopted the gods of their subjects,
adding, however, a deity of their
own, Sutekh, whom they made the head of the Pantheon. But the native
kings at Thebes did not long endure the presence of these foreign rulers, and^
after a successful rebellion, expelled them from their valley.^*
Fig. 10. Sphinx from Tania. Booiak. Cairo.
I. — THE OLD THEBAN EMPIRE.
At the opening of the Old Theban Empire, as in the preceding Memphitic
age, the tomb is still the source from whence our knowledge of sculpture is
obtained. We find now, that the attractive tomb-sculptures of the Fifth and
Sixth Dynasties have given place to the rude works of the insignificant time of
the Entefs and Mentoo-hoteps. This appears not only in the primitive reliefs
at Drah-aboo-1-neggah at Thebes : the architecture, the sarcophagi, and hiero-
glyphics, all share in the general feebleness of execution. During the follow-
ing, the Twelfth Dynasty, the sculptor seems to have regained what he had
lost, carrying out traditions inherited from that hoary ancestry, but remodel-
ling them according to the new time, and thus inaugurating what may be
called the first renaissance in Egyptian art.
The tombs now vary in construction, as well as sculptural finish, with their ,
Digitized by V^OOQIC
36
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
site ; those found on the plain at Abydos being quite different from those hewn
in the mountain side at Beni-Hassan and Sioot.73 ^
Abydos, in Upper Egypt, was believed to be the spot where Osiris, the
great god of the dead, was buried ; and hence it became to the Egyptians what
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem has been to the Christian world. Here they
chose to be buried, or, at least, to have a commemorative tombstone ; and here
a vast necropolis, excavated by Mariette, is still to be seen, harboring the dead
from the remotest ages of Egyptian history down to the fall of the gods.
The tombs here found, belonging to the Old Theban Empire, consist of small,
slender pyramids, in which are deposited the mummies ; a chapel, or simply an
outside tombstone (stele), sometimes adjoining the structure. This vast field
of slender pyramids must once have given the impression of an encampment
of tents. Very few statues have been discovered here, but countless tomb-
stones, on which the deceased appears in relief before a table richly laden
down with offerings, food for the hungry Ka, As yet no figures of gods
appear in the tomb ; but the members of the family occupy the relief, some-
times kneeling, or otherwise offering adoration to the departed.
Fig, 17, Entrance to Roek-Tomb at BenhHasaan.
Quite different are the tombs of this age at Beni-Hassan and Sioot. These
are hewn in the mountain side, and were the stately burial-places of great
feudal lords of the Twelfth Dynasty. A portico, supported by massive pillars,
leads into the tomb-chapel, also dug out in the native rock (Fig. 17). The
sombre serd&b of the Memphitic age, with its twenty or more statues, has disap-
peared. The statues of the deceased, now greatly reduced in number, occupy
niches in this chapel itself, or kneel between its columns. Magnificence and a
desire for colossal proportions seem now to have gained the ascendancy, as
appears, not only from the architectural character of these rock tombs, but also
from the greater size and more obdurate material of their statues. In the tombs
of the Memphitic Empire, as for instance in those of Ras-hospes and of Ti,
Digitized by V^OOQIC
THE SHABTI: THEIR SIGNIFICANCE.
37
the statues for the Ka were of moderate size, and in wood, or soft calcareous
stone : but, in one of the tombs of the Twelfth Dynasty, a picture represents a
colossal statue which seventy-two men are dragging to its destination ; the
ponderous stone figure of the deceased towering high above their heads.74
In the statues preserved from this period, we find that the artistic render-
ing is also different from that in works of the Memphitic age. The forms are
more slender and the figures more bony than the stocky forms of the Ancient
Empire. The figure is rendered with more conventionalism ; although in individ-
ual parts, as in the knee and leg, there is still evident a regard
for nature ; and, in the face, portrait features are represented.
While the narve portrait statues of older times within the
serd&b thus fade from view, supplanted by these later con-
ventional figures, we find that the mummy-chamber, formerly
occupied by the solitary sarcophagus, now receives, in addi-
tion, a population of statuettes called s/iabti, " respondents,"
which may be seen in great numbers in all our museums.75
They have been found in the tombs of the Twelfth Dynasty,
and continued to be used throughout Egyptian history.
These little figures, varying from a few centimeters to a
meter in height, are frequently found by hundreds, covering
the floor of the mummy-chamber, or safely packed away in
boxes made for the purpose. Their shapes are diverse, some-
times representing the deceased standing in the dress of the
period, but generally taking a mummy-form. In the latter
case the hands are crossed on the chest, usually holding a
mattock or hoe, used in agriculture, which often has a sack
of seed hanging from it (Fig. i8). The head with its wig, or, as in the case
of monarchs, with the urcetts, the emblem of royalty, is seldom a portrait;
although a few figures have been found with individual traits. The material of
which these shabti are composed is alabaster, lime-stone, black granite, and
bronze, often exquisitely enamelled ; but more usually they are of blue or gray
porcelain, inaccurately termed "Egyptian porcelain." They represent the de-
ceased whose name is generally inscribed upon them ; but the fact that the
name is sometimes left blank shows that they were articles of common trade,
to which friends added the name of their dead.
But to what purpose are these indefinite multiplications of the figure of the
deceased thus made to accompany his mummy } Although their origin may
be traceable to the material faiths of the Memphitic period, yet they seem to
indicate a more elaborated view of the future life than appears in the older
tombs. The experiences of life, resulting from wrong-doing, seem to have
awakened among the Nile inhabitants an idea, that, for the shortcomings on
earth, either retribution must be suffered or atonement made in the.fut
fig. 18. Funereal Stat-
uette. British Muteum,
Digitized by
vl^TOgle
38
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
world. Consequently, the soul after death had many ordeals of purification to
pass through before it could enter definitely into its eternal happiness. This
Egyptian purgatory and its labors were conceived of as having all the features
of the Nile valley itself. Here, before the soul could find rest, vast fields inter-
sected by rivers and canals must be tilled, and made to bear fruit, by the labors
of the dead. Sometimes, pictured in the " Book of the Dead," a lady is seen
driving the plough : again, it is a man who ploughs, sows, cuts the ripe grain,
and drives the cattle who tread it out (Fig. 19). Lest, however, the deceased
come short in his trying ordeal, or, perchance, be wearied in his tasks, swarms
of these little helpful shabti, or respondents, were placed with the mummy. In
the " Book of the Dead " one chapter, the one hundred and tenth, is devoted to
Fig. 19. Tilling th$ Fields of the Egyptian Purgatory. From tke *' Booit of the Dead '
these labors ; and another, the sixth, which was often inscribed upon these stat-
uettes, is entitled, " The chapter of making the working figures in the Ker-
neter " (Hades).
A strange form among these skabti is that in which the dead is wrapped in
his shroud, and appears lying on his bed with upturned face, as if awaiting the
resurrection ; while a bird with human head and arms, representing the soul of
the departed, stands beside him, and puts its hands on his chest, as if also
awaiting the happy re-union of soul and body. Inscriptions on these reclining
figures show that they all are to share in the toils of the eternal fields. The
finding of unfinished moulds for such figurines and amulets at Thebes, together
with what are believed to be models in stone for sculptors, as well as the excel-
lence of the earlier specimens of these skabti, greatly enhance their art value.
In the tombs of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, the walls of the
chapel are lined with reliefs, and still more frequently paintings, the subjects
being much the same as those of the Memphitic period. Rural and family
scenes still interest us, and as yet no figures of the gods intrude. We fre-
quently see the hunter returning from the chase, carrying the game, with his
Digitized by CjOOQ IC
STATUES OF OLD THEBAN EMPIRE.
39
dog by his side (Fig. 20). But, as a rule, in the reliefs of this period the same
falling-off is noticeable as in the statues. Conventionalism stalks forward with
steady strides. The homely freshness of nature in the older reliefs fades
before the stiffness of academic rule. Traditional groupings and gestures
appear in hackneyed repetitions.
At this time we still find the Pharaoh absorbing much of the sculptor's
best powers, the result being statues, so highly prized in later dynasties as to
have been appropriated by their monarchs as portraits of themselves. Thus
the stately figures of Oosertesen, which, doubtless, once decorated the sides of a
gateway from the ruined temple at Tanis, were usurped by later Pharaohs, and
received the cartouche of Rameses III. and of Menephtah. The pyramids on
the islands of Lake Moeris were, according to Herodotos, surmounted by colos-
sal royal statues ; but such strangely decorated monuments, if they existed, are
thoroughly ruined: and little now remains except the barest traces of the
pyramids themselves. 7^
The vestiges of temples from this age are few. Later generations seem to
have torn them down, to build up more gorgeous edifices ; and, of the sculp-
tures which once occupied them, naturally little
has been found.
A most interesting assemblage of figures,
discovered by Mariette in the oldest part of
the great temple at Karnak, shows, however,
that other statues than those of the Pharaoh
then found their way into the sacred building,
but, as inscriptions teach us, usually by favor
of the monarch.77 Sometimes the Pharaoh re-
warded a distinguished subject by thus recom-
mending him to the favor of the gods. This
group of fourteen figures from Karnak, dating
back to the Twelfth Dynasty, enables us to
conjecture the place which statues of this kind
held in the sacred building. These statues
were found arranged in a row on a long, breast-
high pedestal. One kneels on one knee. One,
like the Louvre Scribe, sits d la Tun, holding a papyrus-roll. Another is in
the ancient attitude of praise, with his knees drawn up to his chin, — a common
attitude among modern Egyptians while at rest. One of these figures is re^
peated three times in difEerent poses ; and if an exact portrait, as it seems to
be, the original must have been decidedly a bon vivant, none too agreeable to
look upon. On another of these statues, found at Karnak, besides the usual
dedicatory inscription to the gods, is one in which the deceased informs us, that
he was a distinguished man of letters in his day, that he was initiated in all the
/ tg. 20. Hunting-Scene. Ceui'Haaaan.
Digitized by
v^oogle
40
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
mysteries of the god Thoth, and because of great civil services in guarding
Thebes, and regulating trade on the Nile, had been elevated to the rank of
commander-in-chief. Besides, he tells us that he had constructed a pylon,
placed in the temple-hall columns of colossal proportions, and erected to the
king a statue ornamented with precious gems, taking care to add that it was
of " hard stone." In this long row of sculptured figures, varying in pose and
size, we see Egyptian statues, not architecturally bound, as they are generally
conceived to be, but representing simply a row of worshippers, quietly await-
ing within the temple the blessing they desire. Doubtless, many statues in
our museums once occupied a
similar position in some old Pha-
raonic temple. Such may have
been the statue of a scribe dis-
covered at Thebes, and now in
the New- York Historical Rooms
(Fig. 2i). In looking at the
strikingly portrait-like and quiet,
homely face of this worthy digni-
tary, as he sits with the papyrus-
roll spread out on his lap, we
almost forget the astonishing
anatomy, the amusingly regular
folds of his abdomen, and the
impossible manner in which he
crosses his legs. The badge of
office over his shoulders, as well
as the inscription, show that this
bland ancient was once a priest
of Ammon at Thebes, and not an
official of the Memphitic period,
as the naturalness of the face
might tempt us to think.
In looking over these statues of
the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties, we find that the sculptor does not create
new types, but holds on to those familiar forms handed down from an honored
past. Thus, like the seated Chephren of old, the monarch still sits solemnly
erect, with hands at rest. This is well illustrated in a statue in the Louvre of
Sebek-hotep of the Thirteenth Dynasty. Thus also statues of scribes, like the
scribe of old, still cross their legs, as seen in the figure of Mentoo-hotep, dis-
covered by Mariette at Karnak, and belonging to this age ; so, also, the old
Memphitic figure of a bread-kneader, with hands deep in the dough, is repeated
in the figures of this time. In the Berlin Museum such are to be seen, accom-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Ftg. 21. Priest of Ammon. New-York Hietorlcal Rooms.
HYKSOS MONUMENTS. — NEW THEBAN EMPIRE. 4 1
panying the sarcophagus of Mentoo-hotep, palace inspector in Thebes, during
the Eleventh Dynasty. 7^
After the brilliant reigns of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasties came the
gloomy invasion of the Hyksos. Very few monuments from this troubled
period are preserved. At Tanis, which is identified with Avaris, the ancient
seat of the Hyksos power, Mariette discovered, however, several very peculiar
sculptures, which, although of Egyptian workmanship, have so un-Egyptian a
type of face, that they have been supposed to represent some of those foreigner
kings. More recent discoveries have brought to light still others of these
unique statues, known as the Hyksos sculptures. On one of these, a sphinx,
was found the cartouche of Apepi, known from Manetho to have been one of
the Hyksos kings. But careful examination of this cartouche, and the position
it occupies on the shoulder of the sphinx, have led Maspero to believe it to be
due to one of the numerous arbitrary usurpations of earlier statues by later
Pharaohs. The four colossal sphinxes (Fig. 16) among the number of these
sculptures from Tanis were found in a sadly damaged state among the ruins
of a temple. Instead of wearing the usual artificial coiffure of the Egyptian-
Pharaoh head, a thick, lion-like mane rises up around the face ; the stiff, regular
chin-beard alone calling to mind the usual royal Egyptian head. The cast of
the features here is strange, the cheek-bones very pronounced and broad, the
face round and angular, the eyes small, the nose flat, mouth disdainful, and
whole expression fiercer than in genuine Egyptian faces.
Still more remarkable than these sphinxes is a group in gray granite, also
discovered by Mariette at Tanis, and now in Boolak.79 Here two powerful
figures, enough alike to represent the same person, stand side by side, holding
fish, aquatic birds, and lotos in their extended hands, — offerings, no doubt, to
some god. What little is left of the face, with its hair falling in long, heavy
curls, and full, clustering beard, shows no resemblance to the true children of
Mizraim. The view of this group at the back is noticeable, for the sculptor
has spared no pains in bringing out its swell and fall; although, strangely
enough, the wide space between the legs is left a solid mass.
II. — THE NEW THEBAN EMPIRE.
The expulsion of the Hyksos kings marks the dawn of that brilliant epoch
termed the New Theban Empire. Under the kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty
Egypt speedily regained what the five centuries of invasion had cost her, and
from now on through the Nineteenth Dynasty held a political position unri-
valled either in earlier or later times. Conquering campaigns, far into the
heart of Asia, now occupied her armies ; and world conquest was the realized
dream of her Pharaohs. Thothmes I. crossed the deserts between Egypt and
the far-off Tigris, leaving monuments commemorative of his victories^ in T
igi ize y ^
42 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
Assyria. His daughter, the proud Hatasoo, invaded Arabia, and brought
home richest treasures and many unhappy prisoners. But no Pharaoh better
deserves the name of great than her brother, Thothmes III., the Alexander of
seventeen centuries before our era. Under him Egypt became the arbiter
of the destinies of nations. Long before the siege of Troy, his fleets con-
quered Cyprus, and his armies overran Nubia and Abyssinia. During his
reign, in the poetical language of the time, Egypt placed her boundaries where
she chose. The undiminished empire of the Egyptians continued under the
sceptres of the remaining kings of this dynasty, which counts among its rulers
the illustrious names of Amenophis III. (the builder of colossal portraits of
himself, the Memnon statues) and Amenophis IV., the heretic Khoo-en-aten.
Under the following dynasty, the Nineteenth, the fortunes of Egypt main-
tained a certain outward iclat ; but across the glory of its warrior kings, the
Set is and Rameses, was cast the shadow of coming trouble. Rebellion had
now to be quelled : the widely scattered members of the empire showed signs
of breaking up. Now we meet the despotic figure of Rameses II., the Sesos-
tris of the Greeks, and oppressor of the children of Israel.^ We see him in
the fourteenth century B.C. hard pressed in battle, and hear him, in Pentaur's
hymn, vow " hard stones," " eternal witnesses," to the gods of his piety ; and
on his safe return we see spring up on Egyptian soil countless monuments,
commemorative of his great deeds. But, after his successor, decadence set in ;
and by the following, the Twentieth Dynasty, the great waves of triumph and
glory had set back in rapid ebb, and Egypt was threatened and invaded by
Ethiopians and Assyrians.
Following this ebb and flow, we see the artistic activity of the New Theban
Empire, in its architectural monuments, mounting now to unrivalled heights
of gorgeous display, now sinking to poor and feeble efforts, sculpture following
its sister art. The inspiration of military success, contact with the outer
world, and the accumulation everywhere of great riches, produced their effect,
Egyptian architecture now assumed forms of colossal size, and unfolded rich
variety in detail. The vast temples, with forests of columns and courts, of
this age, have been the astonishment of all later time. Sculpture, both in
statue and relief, accompanied architecture with greatest profusion. As exist-
ing ruins testify, it was the age of colossi. Not alone Thebes was thus rich,
all the other religious or political capitals of Egypt — Abydos, Memphis, Tanis,
and Sals — had their giants. This extravagant size is still more astonishing
when we remember that these colossi were mostly in one block of the hardest
stone, requiring for their execution untold patience and time.
The limestone monolith of Rameses II., once standing with a height of
thirteen meters before the temple of Ptah at Memphis, now lies prone in
the midst of a forest of palm-trees at Mitrahenny (Fig. 22). Every year,
when the Nile rises, this giant is covered by the waters, the portrait-face and
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
TEMPLE OF NEW THEBAN EMPIRE.
43
admirably executed form appearing again when the waters retire. On his belt
and on the scrolls in his hands he carries his titles. Guiding his steps is still
to be seen the arm of his little daughter, appearing in low relief on the support
of his leg. This great colossus of Rameses, with its beautiful face, together
with the one of this king's wife of equal size, and the four smaller ones of
his daughters, no longer extant, may have been those seen by Herodotos
standing before the temple of Hephaistos at Memphis.^*
Tombs, equally marvellous for their vast extent and exhaustless labor, were
now carved into the very heart of the mountains. Here, also, sculpture kept
pace with architecture, spreading over every surface reliefs of vast extent.
But although statuary was thus stupendous, and reliefs were of such extent.
Fig. 22. Fallen Colossus of Rameses II. Mitrahenny.
covering tomb, temple, and pylon ; although innumerable figures of gods
appeared, and sphinxes lined avenues measuring more than a mile in length, —
still, everywhere hardest stones, granite, porphyry, basalt, and diorite were
preferred to wood and soft stone, now sparingly used.
Heretofore we have seen the tomb to be of most service in throwing light
upon sculpture ; but now the temple, imposing in its dimensions, forms the
great centre of attraction. There is, however, among these sacred structures,
a difference to be noticed, somewhat affecting their sculptural accompaniments.
One class consists of great national monuments to deity : the other, erected to
kings and queens, seems an outgrowth of the tomb-chapel of earlier days,
which has at last attained a size so great, and an adornment so elaborate, as to
be worthy of a place beside the temples of the gods.
Before considering these various temples, let us first cast a glance jat^he,^
Digitized by VjOOyiC
44 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
private and royal tombs, those ambitious mummy-chambers of this empire,
solemn and endless galleries, called syringes by the Greeks, hewn out from the
bowels of the earth, opposite the city of ancient Thebes. Every traveller who
has visited the desolate, wild valley called Bab-el-Moolok, and seen here the
broken cliffs and crumbling rocks of the Libyan chain, pierced by these
numerous royal, as well as private, tombs, has marvelled, as before the pyra-
mids, at the perseverance of a people who spent such labor upon their last
resting-places. Still greater will be his wonder on exploring these galleries
and halls, which pierce over one hundred and fifty meters into the mountain
side, and are lined throughout with sculptures or painting.
In private tombs, soon after entering these subterranean chambers, comes
the chapel where friends once met for offering: farther on, in the remotest
part, in a niche, and raised on a kind of platform, the stiff statue of the
deceased was to be seen, usually accompanied by wife and children, many of
which figures are now in our museums. When the occupant was possessed
of sufficient means, and the tomb has been undisturbed, the sarcophagus is
found in hard stone, surrounded by numberless sltabti^ and those strange
vases, canopi, in the shape of the four genii of Ker-neter, or Hades, and hold-
ing the noble parts of the mummy. The covers of these vases have the form
of the heads, either of men, animals, or birds, according to the genius repre-
sented, and abound in every Egyptian collection. On the walls of the tomb,
occasionally appear in relief scenes from daily life, as in the older time ; but
generally these have yielded to the speechless, motionless figures of the gods.^^
But these private tombs are of even less interest than those of the kings
themselves. In these the mortuary chamber is, likewise, dug out in the
mountain side, but hidden as completely as possible from public view ; while
the chapel, removed to a distance, becomes a gorgeous temple. The tomb of
the great Seti I., with its passages and chambers, extends for one hundred
and forty-five meters into the mountain, its remotest explored end being fifty-
six meters below the level of the valley ; and the tomb of Rameses III. has a
length of one hundred and twenty-five meters. All this vast expanse of wall,
ceiling, and pillars, except the chambers of sepulture, is covered throughout
with the creations of the chisel, to which the painter's brush has given an
additional charm. In one of the largest tombs the excavated surfaces have
an area of twenty-three thousand square feet. As no ray of sun penetrates
these passages, all this work must have been executed by torchlight ; and yet,
although the sculptors knew that the entrance to these abodes of the mummy
would be permanently concealed, and, if possible, even obliterated, they fin-
ished their decorations with the utmost care.
"Here," to use Mariette's words in describing the tomb of Seti, "the
defunct is no more to be seen in his family : there is no more making of furni-
ture, no more building of ships, no more extensive farm-yards, with oxen,
Digitized by CjOOQIC
MYSTERIOUS SUBJECTS IN TOMBS. 45
antelopes, wild goats, ducks, and cranes, marching in procession before the
stewards. All has become, so to speak, fantastic and chimerical. Even the
gods themselves assume strange forms. Long serpents are pictured gliding
hither and thither around the rooms, or standing erect against the door-ways.
Sometimes convicted malefactors are being decapitated, or precipitated into
the flames. Well might a visitor feel a kind of dread creeping over him, did
he not realize, that underneath these strange representations lies a most con-
soling dogma, vouchsafing eternal happiness to the soul after the many trials
of life. Covering the walls, from the entrance to the extreme end of the
chamber, are represented the many labors of the soul, separated from the
body, triumphant by such virtues as it has practised on earth, and ending in
the final judgment. The serpents, darting venom, and standing erect over
each portal, are the guardians to the gates of heaven, which the soul cannot
pass unless possessed of piety and benevolence. The long texts on other
parts of the wall are magnificent hymns, to which the soul gives utterance in
honor of the divinity whose glory and greatness it thus celebrates. When
once the dead has been adjudged worthy of life eternal, these ordeals are at
an end : he becomes part of the divine essence ; and henceforward he wanders,
a pure spirit, over the vast regions where the stars forever shine. Thus the
reliefs of the tombs are the emblem of the voyage of the soul to its eternal
abode. From room to room we can follow its progress, as it appears before the
gods, and becomes gradually purified, until at last, in the grand hall at the end
of the tomb, we are present at its final admission into that life where a second
death shall never reach."
This supreme regard for the inviolability of the tomb, and the careful preser-
vation of its reliefs forever to be sealed from mortal view, seem to show with
what tenacity the Egyptian held to the belief in the magical virtue of these
pictured and sculptured emblems to assist the soul in its future trials. Did
the god thus appear distributing reward in the tomb, the soul would, in reality,
more surely receive it ; and, did the deceased appear in his tomb as journeying
to the celestials, the securer would be his future bliss.
Although reliefs, figuring the gods, thus abound in these rock-tombs of the
kings, statues, properly so called, are not found ; the nearest approach to them
being very high relief at the extreme end of the chamber where the deceased,
sometimes, is seated between two gods : and sometimes the front part of the
cow-shaped goddess, Amenti, projects from the wall, as though approaching
the deceased. All these gods appertain to the myth of Osiris, the solar deities
being excluded from this sombre region. " The life of man is compared by the
Egyptians to the course of the sun above our heads," says Mariette ; " and
the sun, disappearing in the west, is the image of the deceased. Scarcely has
the last moment arrived, when Osiris takes possession of the soul which he is
charged to conduct to eternal life. Osiris, it was said, once descended upon
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
46 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
earth. A being good beyond degree, he had mollified and elevated the ways
of men by persuading, to good deeds. But at last he succumbed to the
ambush of Typhon, the genius of evil, and was slain. While his mourning
sisters, Isis and Nephthys, were searching for his body, which had been
thrown into the river, the god came to life, and, appearing to his son Horus,
made him his avenger. This sacrifice, once made by Osiris for man, he con-
stantly renews in favor of the soul disengaged from its earthly ties. Not only
is he its guide : he becomes identified with it, absorbs it into his own being.
The dead is even called Osiris. The god must submit to all his trials, subdue
the guardians of the infernal regions, and combat the companion monsters.
Night and Death, before the soul can be termed 'just.* It was he who finally
conquered the shades with the help of Horus, and opened the gates of eternal
bliss." This doctrine seems obscure in the Memphitic and Old Theban
Empire. The god of souls, though invoked in many inscriptions, is not
represented in those earlier tombs ; the dead himself being, as we have seen,
their chief inhabitant. But, in these tombs of the New Theban Empire,
statues of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys appear.
Nothing has been found in these vast subterranean chambers which corre-
sponds to the serddbs of the Memphitic age, although it is probable that
statues were placed in some special part ; since, in the tomb of Rameses IV.,
inscriptions indicate that there was one room set apart for statues, and another
for shabti. But we have clear evidence, that at this time the royal statues
were placed at a distance from the mummy, in the far-off temples sacred to its
service.
Turning from these rock-hewn mummy-chambers to the temples of the
New Theban Empire, we find that all the temples on the left bank of the Nile
at Thebes, with one exception, are funereal. Here the king should receive the
offerings of his descendants ; and here he was worshipped in company with the
deities themselves, sculpture adding its fulsome but indispensable tribute. We
find in reliefs actual history now appearing ; the walls of these temples being
written all over with pictures of the warlike exploits of the kings and queens, or
of their victorious triumphs. Thus, in the ruins of the temple at Deir-el-Bahari,
built by proud Hatasoo, appears, in full detail, sculptured with great boldness
and breadth, an expedition undertaken by this strong daughter of Thothmes
against a country called Poont. Here the Egyptian general receives the dis-
armed chief of the enemy, presenting himself as a suppliant. Behind the
conquered man walk his wife and daughter, both repulsive in form and face,
their flesh sagging so that it would seem difficult for them to walk.83 The
traveller Schweinfurt tells us, that a similar corpulency is common to-day among
the Bongo women. Besides these unfortunate barbarians, we see, in these
reliefs of Queen Hatasoo, the Egyptian fleet being freighted with booty, such
as giraffes, monkeys, leopards, weapons, ingots of copper, and rings of gold.
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
HISTORICAL SCENES IN TEMPLES.
47
In another place the triumphant army re-enters Thebes, marching to the music
of trumpeters who go before, while each soldier carries a palm and a pike.
The god Ammon witnesses the procession of short-horned oxen, monkeys, etc.,
and addresses his congratulations to the victorious queen who is thus enriched.
Fig. 23, Court in the Tempie of Rameaea Hi, Medaanat-Aboo.
The walls of the Ramesseion, the famous temple of the great Rameses,
teem with the exploits of that Pharaoh, the Sesostris of the Greeks ; and
terrible is the mfUe of battle in which he joins, his horses plunging over and
among the bodies of the slain.
Besides these historical scenes, there appear, on the walls of these funereal
chapels, representations of the king in adoration before the god of Thebes, t
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
48 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
Ammon Ra, often associated with Mut and Khons, the other deities of the
Theban triad. Again, the royal personage quenches his thirst with the milk
of the cow-shaped goddess, Hathor. Still again, the monarch is worshipped
by his children. So Rameses I. appears in a niche, adored by his grandson.
By all these scenes, doubtless, the living Pharaoh planned to secure to his Ka
future entertainment and happiness, and at the same time to gratify the spirit
of self-exaltation.
In addition to these reliefs, thus lavishly spread over wall, pillar, and pylon
of the funereal temples, numbers of colossal statues found here their proper
place. They appear, standing around some of the courts at regular intervals,
like constituents of the architecture, wearing the mummy-robes and emblems
of Osiris, or the garb of the living monarch, but always having the portrait-
head of the Pharaoh, as in a colonnade of the court of the temple of Rameses
III. at Medeenet-Aboo (Fig. 23).
Again, the colossal seated statues of the monarch occur in even numbers,
on either side of the entrance, frequently accompanied by diminutive members
of the royal family ; the heir-apparent, " the law-giver between his feet," peer-
ing out from betwixt the gigantic knees. Such is the so-called statue of
Memnon and its twin colossus, sixty feet in height, portraits of Amenophis
III. (Fig. 24), before the gigantic pylons of that monarch's spacious tomb-
temple, whose ruins are now scarcely traceable among the sands. Until 27
B.C. these portraits of the Pharaoh attracted no unusual attention. At that
time, however, an earthquake precipitated the upper part of one of them ; and
it was observed, that from the remainder, when wet by the morning dew,
and touched by the sun's first rays, a prolonged sound was heard. As Greeks
and Romans were then frequent travellers in Egypt, this phenomenon attracted
much attention, and gave the statues a world-wide fame. Being familiar with
an Egyptian hero, Memnon, son of Eos (Aurora), this colossus soon became
to the Greeks their mythic hero, greeting with audible tones his mother, as
she came at break of day, heralding light to the darkened world. Whether
these stately figures, seated in quiet before the pylons, like their companions
the obelisks, were actually objects of worship, we do not know ; but it is not
at all improbable that they also had their stated rites and appointed priests.
Passing across the river to the right bank, we meet with another vast
complex of sacred buildings at Thebes, the temples of Luxor and Karnak,
which likewise have their lavish accompaniment of sculpture. These temples
were not, like those just described, funereal in character, but were great national
sanctuaries, sacred to deity, the expression of the piety of successive genera-
tions, from the time of the Twelfth Dynasty down to the Roman age.
Different princes have here added their contributions to the original structure :
one has built a pylon with its seated colossi, another a court with its surround-
ing columns, another has planted a solemn row of sphinxes before the entrance,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
TEMPLE STATUARY.
49
or raised a finely chiselled obelisk. Thus the Pharaonic temples on the right
bank may well be called the "growth of ages."
The reliefs covering their interior represent, not the boastful historical
scenes of the funereal temples of the Pharaohs on the left bank of the river,
war-scenes also appearing rarely on their exterior. We see, instead, the great
gods of Thebes in solemn assemblages, to whom kings offer their humble
adoration.
Besides, within the building, a king often offers to such and such a god his
statue, as a perpetual witness of his piety, thus securing divine favor. These
Fig, 24. The " Memnon ColoaaL" 7*»6««.
royal figures were sometimes erected by decree of a college of priests, or by a
private individual who had vowed thus to render to his sovereign due honor.
In these statues the king becomes a god. He was himself present in the
stone, fashioned in his image ; and to him were rendered divine honors in an
established service of offering and prayer, recited at the feet of the statue.^4
It is difficult to comprehend the ancient Egyptian's thought ; but, in a temple
of Abydos, Rameses is to be seen invoking himself in his own statue. At
Karnak were found a number of remarkable colossi, representing Thothmes'
III., the head of one of which is now in the British Museum (Fig. 25). Before
one pylon alone, six such statues had their abiding-place. Could we but
imagine the whole building raised once again, and these statues, silently
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
50
EGYFnAN SCULPTURE.
seated in front of the massive pylon, projected against the deep blue, in the
blazing light of day, or even see these colossi lying under their native sky
in grand ruin, how different the impression they would have from that we
receive while standing before the stately head of Thothmes III. imprisoned in
the dark galleries of the British Museum !
Leading up to the entrances of these temples of Karnak and Luxor were
imposing avenues, through which the
worshippers passed in approaching the
sacred precincts. Facing the road on
each side crouched sphinxes, mysterious
combinations of lion and man, ram and
lion, or colossal rams, varying with the
size of the pylon to which they led.
The width of these stately avenues at
Karnak is about twenty-three meters,
and the sphinxes occur at intervals of
four meters. Could we have passed
with the ancient Egyptians up the ave-
nue, two kilometers long, leading from
Luxor to Karnak, we should then have
counted about a thousand such sphinxes,
crouching in the attitude of perfect re-
pose. If the sphinx is a pure lion, like
those from Gebel Barkal in the British
Museum, the king of beasts quietly
crosses his paws, the dormant power
of his form in contrast to the vigilant
face (Fig. 26). At Karnak, between
the front paws of the imposing ram-
headed sphinxes, and under their placid
heads, stands the small figure of a king,
whom the divine animal, as symbol* of
Ammon Ra, thus seems to protect. As
yet Egyptologists are unable to discover
whether these sphinxes had, like the
obelisks, a specifically religious character, or were simply decorative symbols.
In either case, we can imagine how imposing these quiet, ^ver-recurring forms
must have been from a glimpse at even the single members, now in ruins, or
torn from their original place (Fig. 27). An admirable specimen of these ram-
headed sphinxes, to be seen in the British Museum, is from the avenue which
led to the pylon built by King Horus.
In reliefs, this mysterious sphinx-form receives many variations. Dccorat-
Fig. 25, 7kotkm§8 III. Brittak »iuM€um.
Digitized by V^OOQIC
DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE SPHINX. 5 1
ing the throne of Araenophis III., it bears the monarch's head, and stands
holding in its powerful clutch the helpless form of an Asiatic foe (Fig. 29).
Sometimes it is seated on its haunches, as afterwards in Greek art. Again, it
appears as the prototype of the Greek griffin, with a hawk's head, but having
the beak closed, as in the monuments of Amenophis III. at Karnak. Seldom
does the sphinx receive female form; although the warlike queen Hatasoo
appears once in this shape on a small coffer of the Abbott collection, where
she is furnished with powerful wings, contrary to the usual Egyptian mode of
representing this mythic animal.
But not at Thebes alone, during this time, were tasks of great magnitude
performed by the sculptor. Among the mountains of Nubia, in the south.
Fig. 26. Lion from Qebel Barkal. British Muswm.
Rameses the Great caused temple courts and passages to be excavated. This
prince himself adorns the facade of the great rock-temple at Aboo-Simbel (Fig.
28) in figures hewn from the mountain side, 20.13 meters (66 feet) high, and
having forefingers 91 centimeters (3 feet) in length. These statues are all alike ;
two of them sit on each side of the entrance : and a cornice of dog-headed apes,
each 1.82 meter (6 feet) high, surmounts the temple front. The sand is rapidly
shrouding the grand and thoroughly Egyptian features of the monarch, who
looks calmly down on the great river flowing at his feet. The mild dignity of
these faces, expressed in such immense proportions, makes them unequalled
for beauty among Egyptian colossi. The structure of the body, however, is
rigid and conventional, typical of that vast number of statues which form the
stern concomitant of much of the architecture in the Nile valley. Their royal
character is marked, not only by the head-dress, but by that colossal size never
given to statues of the gods. A relief of the hawk-headed divinity Ra, in
Digitized by
v^oogle
52
EGYPTIAN SCULFRJRE.
small form, appears in the niche above the temple-door, as being worshipped
by Rameses at the god's right hand.
In the Egyptian temple, there was no central cult statue of the god, as in
the temples of the Greeks. *5 Usually the holiest place was occupied by a mere
symbol, sometimes a living animal ; while the statues of the god appear to have
been banished to less important parts of the building. The statues of the
gods, votive offerings, deposited in the sacred edifice, were, however, numerous,
and set up at the expense of the king or of private persons, with dedicatory
inscriptions. Sometimes they represented the deity to whom the temple was
sacred, and frequently gods who were strangers to the local cult. Those whose
piety erected these votive figures did not fail to provide for a perpetual service
of offering to be deposited on fixed occasions at the feet of the statues, and for
Fig, 27. Part of on Av€hu§ of Ram-keadod Sphinx—, KaritaJu
ceremonies and prayers in which the name of the dedicator was to be always
mentioned. The statue was clothed and unclothed by the priest, who also
held conversations with it. A singular dialogue is recorded upon the stele erf
Bakh-tan, between the god Khons and his prophet, in which the god responds.
Other inscriptions show, that the statue was considered the veritable dwelling
of the god, a sort of tabernacle, taken possession of at the moment of invoca-
tion. Many of the images of the gods were of precious metal, and have fallen
a prey to the avarice of man. These representations of deity in the New
Theban Empire absorb far more of the Egyptians' energy than they did in
the olden time, their innumerable hybrid forms crowding into the background
the more natural subjects and naive realism of the most ancient dynasties.
Indeed, among the ruins of the time of the Thothmes and the Rameses, figures
of gods, from life-size to tiny statuettes, are found everywhere. The courts and
passages of the small temple at Karnak, which had a longitudinal section of not
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
SIZE AND NUMBER OF STATUES OF GODS.
53
more than a hundred meters, were decorated with five hundred and seventy
two statues, in black granite, of the lion-headed goddess, standing sometimes
in one and sometimes in two rows against the walls, and so close together as
to elbow one another.^ In private houses, the gods, family divinities as it
were, occupied, at the extreme end of a chamber, a niche cut to imitate the
holiest place or sanctuary in the temple. At this family altar, and before the
statues in the niche, stood a table, constantly supplied with offerings of food
and flowers. Such family divinities may be traced up to the Eighteenth
Fig. 28, Faqoa* 0/ Qfot Rock'Tempie at Abqp^tmbgt. Mubla.
Dynasty, and probably farther. ^7 Besides, many statuettes were placed in
private dwellings, such as those in the Boolak Museum, discovered by Mariette,
potent talismans against harm, and doubtless, like the branch of aloes over the
modern Egyptians' door, befieved to ward off the evil eye.
Many similar figurines of deity were also found in the sand. To the pious
Egyptian, this destructive element was an emblem of Typhon, the great power
of evil. It signified to him death and sterility. Not only the beasts which
haunted the desert, the sand also which covered it, and even its barren, sear
color, were an abomination.^* So intense was this feeling, that all animals, and,
it is said, even children, bom with hair of its hue, were sacrificed to ^l^^m^ip
54
EGYPTIAN SCULFfURE.
demon Typhon. Before using any desert spot for sacred purposes, such as
the erection of temple or tomb, care was taken to scatter broadcast purifying
figures of the gods, sometimes in gold, oftener in porcelain and stone, but
especially in bronze. Of these figures,
Mariette discovered very many with the
sand still clinging to them.
But while the Egyptian sculptor of the
New Theban age revels in colossal forms,
costly materials, and strange combinations
of human and animal shapes, to represent
his highest ideals, he is still true to the
former tendency to make the head a por-
trait of the Pharaoh or private person rep-
resented. Although the lifelike, every-day
portraits of the Memphitic period are not
seen, and the Pharaoh's features are gen-
eralized to suit the larger forms ; yet our
wonder is aroused at the resemblance to
life preserved, even in such colossal shapes.
The heads of Thothmes III. (Fig. 25) and
Amenophis III., in the British Museum,
and that of Rameses at Aboo-Simbel (Fig.
28), bear witness to this individuality. How
unique the homely features of Amenophis
IV., or Kboo-en-aten, the heretic king (Fig. 30), with his retreating forehead,
large, aquiline nose, long, ill-shapen chin, startling, almond-shaped eyes, and
flabby cheeks ! In his form also, as in reliefs, and in
a statuette of the Louvre, we seem to see a representa-
tion of life. Even such repulsive features as the flat
chest and large stomach testify to the desire to imitate
nature.
But that the sculptors of this age, while rendering
characteristic features, did not neglect the beautiful, is
well illustrated by a beautiful statue of Rameses II.,
now in Turin (Plate L). Here, in very hard stone,
the sculptor has succeeded in giving the softness and
delicacy of life. The undulations of form are admirably
expressed through the rigidly regular drapery ; and the
head, full of true ideal beauty, gives a most elevated
conception of the sculptor's powers. We wonder at this display of ability in
combination with the immovable pose, the unpleasant support at the back, the
tiny figures, with outstretched hands, decorating the great king's seat on either
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 29, Throne of Amenophis III.
Fig. 80, Portrait of ^Aoo-en-
ixten, the Heretic King, Thebee,
EMPHASIS OF RACE PECULIARITIES.
55
side, as well as the peculiar treatment of the garments, very full in their fall,
and, doubtless, in nature of very thin, transparent stuff. No detail has the
painstaking sculptor here omitted ; and how thorough and happy his approach
to an agreeable tout ensemble appears throughout, even to the elaborate finish
of the head-dress. In this beautiful statue conventionalism seems so coupled
with abstract grace, that the great possibilities of Egyptian art dawn upon us
with rare force. When this figure, however, is compared with the realistic,
lifelike figures of the Ancient Empire, as, for instance, the strong, rocky
Chephren (Fig. ii), we realize the great difference between the work and spirit
of the various ages of Egyptian sculpture, and better appreciate the attain-
ments of each.
Moreover, the Egyptian sculptor now seizes race peculiarities, and renders
them with great skill. This is admirably illustrated in the bands of chained
Fig, 31, Chains PriMonert being Driven, AbooSimM.
Fig, 32. Danoing-GirL TkebeM.
negroes (Fig. 31) from the temple at Aboo-Simbel. The excited passion and
restless writhing of the prisoners, galled by their bonds, is rendered with a
masterly hand. In one relief, where Rameses II., protected by the bird-headed
deity, decapitates, at a blow, ten of his pygmy foes, whom he holds by their
scalp-locks, the characteristics of race are most pronounced. This distinction
of foreign races throughout the New Theban Empire is at strange variance
with the stiff conventionalism in the forms of the Egyptians and the gods.
The Egyptians themselves are now represented as more slender than in the
Ancient Theban Empire, and a tendency to elegance is manifest in the more
elaborate although unartistic head-dresses and garments. Smaller reliefs in the
tombs will be found to be not wanting in attractiveness. That the Egyptian
sculptor could render female grace appears from a part of a tomb-relief of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, of which a drawing was made before its destruction by
tourists. Here, as may be seen in a figure from one of those dancing-scenes,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
56
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
beauty of design, graceful attitudes, combined with the elegance of the musical
instruments, attract the eye (Fig. 32). This figure shows us the artist in
a new light, free to follow his own instincts, as he was unable to do in the
oflBcial scenes he so often had to represent. The dancing-girl, with her head
dropped, seems to follow with her eye the movement of her feet ; and we may
see the graceful swing of her body. The rich girdle she wears is an ornament
such as is still worn by young girls in Upper Egypt and Nubia.
But, even in official scenes, there are often single parts which are exceed-
ingly pleasing. In the original of a relief of Seti I. (Fig. 33), adorning the
Fig. 33, Seti /. worshipping Osiris, Isia, and Horus. Abydos.
temple he built at Abydos, but of which the cut is a poor representation, the
exquisite softness and sweetness of the face, combined with royal dignity, take
us altogether captive ; and we wonder how an artist capable of creating such
a face could have been satisfied to represent Seti's form and hands, both of
which are right hands, in so schematic and lifeless a manner. ^9
V^In the representation of battle-scenes, there is a liveliness of detail and
movement not met with in the idyllic earlier art. But the form of the horse
is crude, lacking the truthfulness to nature seen in the cows, deer, and geese
of that earlier day. The horse was probably introduced into Egypt as late as
the time of the Hyksos, and hence received the conventional type so peculiar*
to later Egyptian art ; whereas the other animals continued to be represented
with the old naturalness. We feel this in looking at a pretentious and gayly-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
CONVENTIONALISM IN BATTLE-SCENES.
57
colored relief, where Rame-
ses IL, and his three sons in
smaller size, are represented
in their chariots as storming
forward to the attack of a fort-
ress (Fig. 34). Each chariot is
drawn by richly caparisoned
horses, but having shapes
more like wooden toys than
war-horses. Even the fleeing
herd below, terrified by the
approach of the mighty con-
queror, has more life than
these leaping steeds/
The fallen in these battle-
scenes are often scattered all
over the field of the relief,
sometimes under the feet of
the Pharaoh's colossal steeds ;
so that at first sight the con-
fusion of battle appears terri-
ble, as on a relief of Seti I. at
Karnak (Fig. 35). The end-
less repetition, however, of a
few given poses, shows how
bald and spiritless this chron-
icle of past events, more like
a vast group of pictorial hiero-
glyphics than a poem glowing
with passion and fire of war.
The shortcomings in the
reliefs of this time may have
in part resulted from the
greater size of the buildings.
The ambitious pride of Ra-
meses caused vast and numer-
ous structures to stud the
banks of the Nile from the
north to the remotest south ;
and, in covering this expanse
of walls and columns, it must
have been impossible for the
sculptor to maintain any so-
■ If sai
58
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
briety in his compositions. Not limiting his sculptural decoration to certain
parts, but striving to cover every part with relief, it is questionable whether,
in the nature of the case, he could have preserved agreeableness of com-
position and harmony with the colossal architectural lines of the temple or
pylon.
So, also, the carelessness of execution in many reliefs of this time may find
adequate explanation in the fact, that more was demanded of the artists than
they could do well. The coarse workmanship and displeasing superficiality of
Rameses' sculptures in Abydos, as compared with those of his father, Seti I.,
in, an adjoining part of the same temple, would thus find explanation in this
rush of work in the time of Rameses.
In like manner the increased conventionalism throughout this New Theban
Fig. 36. 8etl /. in Battle, Karnak.
Empire may also have resulted from this great demand for work. The whole-
sale production of sculptures and reliefs must have forced the artist to repeat
now, more than ever, certain types by rote, for the sake of rapid execution,
and thus to become very mechanical.
It may have been from the same desire for rapidity of execution, as well as
for durability, that the sculptor now often carved his pictures, not in bas-relief
proper, but by hollowing out the contours after the manner of intaglio relievato
or en cretix.
Even the master-minds who directed all this activity probably aimed to
produce little more than fine architectural ornaments, ,and, as inscriptions
show, were more proud of the size of their works, and the mechanical difficul-
ties they had overcome in carving very hard stones, than of the more purely
artistic excellence of their productions.
The names of multitudes of architects have been preserved to us, in one
case the profession passing from father to son for twenty-two generations.90
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
EGYPTIAN SCULPTORS.
59
Of sculptors, on the other hand, the names are very few; although the
Egyptian word for sculptor, se-ankhy or " he who makes to live," is frequently
annexed to figures represented as engaged in work.
Among the few known sculptors is one Mertesen, or Iritesen, of the Eleventh
Dynasty, with whom we become acquainted through his own words carved on
his tombstone, found at Beni-Hassan.9» On this monument Iritesen appears
on the lower row of a relief, occupying the same seat with his wife Hapoo, who
has one arm put lovingly around the neck of her lord, and raises to his nose
an alabastron full of perfumed oil. Before them is the usual table, piled up
with every description of food ; and above is to be read, " Funeral meal of
bread and liquor, thousands of loaves, oxen, geese, all good and pure things, to
the pious Iritesen ; his pious wife, who loves him, Hapoo." In the middle
stripe of the tombstone, this worthy pair are seen making front to a proces-
fig, 36, Aoota, MasUrSouiptor, in Mm Workshop, 7k9he$.
sion headed by " his son, his eldest, who loves him, Oosertesen," followed by
the remaining children. In the inscription, Iritesen calls himself the "chief
of artists," and is not slow to make us acquainted with his skill. He says, " I,
indeed, am an artist, wise in his art, — a man standing above all men by his
learning," and, after enumerating his gifts, adds, " So there is no man excels
by it but I alone, and my eldest legitimate son. God has decreed him to be
excellent in it ; and I have seen the perfection of his hands in his work of chief
artist in every kind of precious stone, from gold and silver, even to ivory and
ebony." The self-laudation here is similar to that of the sculptor of the
Memnon colossi, one Amen-hotep, son of Hapoo.92
One other sculptor, Aoota by name, seems to have enjoyed the admiration
of his fellows as well as of himself, as a relief on the ruined wall of the temple
of the heretic king Khoo-en-aten at Tell-el-marna informs us (Fig. 36). Here
we see Aoota seated on a low stool, with a small statuette before him, which
Digitized by V^OOQIC
6o
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
he is touching up with color. In his other hand he holds his palette, one
end of which he rests upon his knee. The inscription tells us that this is
Aoota, master-sculptor of the great queen, and that the figure he is finishing
is of the favorite granddaughter of that queen, the princess Bekh-a-ten, daugh-
ter of the king Khoo-en-aten.9j Opposite stands a fellow-workman, bent over
in attitude of rapt admiration. The same relief shows two others, busy, one
Fig, 37. Sculptors Modsts, Bodak. Cairo,
with a head, and the other with a leg or arm ; the hieroglyphic inscription
se-ankhy engraved alongside of each, telling us that they are sculptors.
The head, on which one of these sculptors works, calls to mind the fact, that
on nearly every site excavated, heads, as well as closed hands, animals, etc., are
found, which doubtless served as models to sculptors. In the Salle de TEst,
at Boolak, are fifteen such heads (Fig. 37), together with sculptured slabs
(Figs. 38, 39). These objects were discovered in the sand of the necropolis of
Sakkarah, where, however, nothing indicated the site of a tomb. They are in
Digitized by V^OOQIC
SCULPTOR'S MODELS, 6 1
limestone, each twenty-five centimeters in height, and appear to be graded
models for art-students, blocked out in the rough. The successive numbers
show continual improvement, until, in No. 60, we see a thoroughly finished
work. One of these models is cut through the middle, as though to bring out
the profile ; and others are squared off, as though to establish the proportions
more accurately.
It has been conjectured, that these curious relics may be trial-heads, in
which the sculptor sought to get the portrait of the ruler he was to represent ;
or that they may be officially prescribed portraits of the Pharaoh, sent out from
the capital at each new accession to the throne, to serve as the type to be
copied in all monuments in honor of the new monarch. A curious part was
Fig. 33. Butt for Scutptor's ModeL BoolaM. Cairo.
played by the portrait of the all-powerful Pharaoh during the reigns of Seti L
and Rameses IL, when it was quite customary, in making statues, to give them
the royal physiognomy, although intended for other people. Even humble
vases were adorned with the head of the monarch.
In regarding the colossi and other elaborately finished sculptures of this
brilliant epoch, we naturally imagine that the Egyptians must then have been
possessed of all the refinements of a thoroughly developed technique. M.
Soldi has, however, shown that this was not the case ; nearly all the monuments
bearing marks of the primitive character of the tools with which they were
executed, as seen especially in the cavities of the hieroglyphics.94 The high
polish finally given killed out all irregularities, leaving the work like a grandly
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
62 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
planned sketch. Even in the mechanical contrivances for moving colossal
statues, the Egyptians of this Theban Empire seem to have used very simple
means, as is illustrated from a relief in a tomb at Beni-Hassan, and dating from
the Twelfth Dynasty.95 Here the colossal figure rests on a sledge drawn by
multitudes of human hands : a man stands in the lap of the statue, and beats
time, that the workmen may draw in unison. One pours water on the runners ;
and numbers of overseers with short whips are scattered along, to urge the
workmen in their task. Such scenes, taken from life when Egypt was at the
height of its civilization, show that thousands of human hands took the place
of pulleys, capstans, and other mechanical appliances.
By comparing monuments from different places, it may be noticed, that
while the same general character marked the sculptures of the whole land dur-
ing this New Theban period, still the art of different cities had some slight
local coloring. The sculptures, executed during the reign of Rameses II., at
Abydos, are evidently the work of men superior to
their contemporaries at Thebes. Those who work
at Thebes are, again, different from those whose
skill shows itself at Memphis, or in the cities of the
Delta.
As marked peculiarities in the statues of this
\ rW period may be noticed the support at the back, as
k^y ^^ well as the "reserved" arms and legs in seated,
i\ ^ standing, or kneeling figures. These strange ad-
juncts increase the already rigid impression of all
^ Bootak, cain^'^' ' ^^^ figures at this time, both large and small, which
are not in wood or bronze. The greater freedom in
statues of these latter materials may be seen in the large wooden statues of
Seti in the British Museum, where these ungainly adjuncts are omitted, and
also in the bronze negro of the New- York Historical Rooms.
A general survey of all Egyptian sculptural monuments, thus far discussed,
leads to their division into two general classes : first, those of a freer sort,
mostly belonging to earlier periods, almost always in wood, bronze, or soft stone,
and having small proportions ; second, those chiefly of the later period, larger
and more conventional, in which sculpture becomes architectural in its spirit.
To this latter class belong the so-called Osirid pillars lining the temple-courts,
the seated royal colossi before the entrances, the sacred apes hocking on the
cornices of the pylons or around the bases of the obelisks, the sphinxes border-
ing the avenues, and the lion-headed goddesses symmetrically arranged in tem-
ple-areas. But it is to be noticed, that these sacred objects never support any
thing. They simply supplement architectural lines. In scarcely more than
two cases does the human form bear the roof. Such duty is only performed
by prisoners, bent and distorted under their burden, as in the portico of the so-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ARCHITECTURAL SCULPTURES. 63
called Pavilion of Rameses, at Thebes. In representations of Pharaoh's throne
(Fig. 29), we sometimes see a negro and an Asiatic, bound back to back, and
standing as though supporting the seat with their heads ; and, in actual fur-
niture and utensils, the figure of prisoner or slave was frequently made thus to
do servile duty.
Digitized by
Google
CHAPTER IV.
THE SAlTIC AND LOWER EMPIRES.
Historical Introduction. — Changes caused by the Nature of the Delta. — Structures of Brick. — Art at
Sais. — Greater Costliness ot Material. — Elaborateness of Finish. — Absence of Colossal Forms- —
Ameneriti.s. — Statues at Sakkarah. — Reliefs more Varied and Graceful. — Cause of Conservatism
in Egyptian Art. — Proportions of Statuary. — Decline of Egyptian Sculpture from Time of Alex-
ander.
For centuries Thebes had enjoyed a pre-eminent position, but by the
Twenty-first Dynasty she yielded her proud rank to the growing cities of the
Delta. Among these the most important was Sals, which gives its name to
the remaining period of national Egyptian rule, reaching down to the conquest
of the Nile valley by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C.
The opening of this SaYtic period was marked by serious reverses to
Egyptian arms. The vast possessions abroad, results of the brilliant conquests
of the Thothmes and Rameses, were gone ; and Egypt found herself surrounded
by enemies. Among the principal features of the earlier part of this period
were the prevalence of Semitic influence, the dominating position of the
hierarchy, the contention of the Assyrians and Ethiopians for possession of
the land, resulting in the supremacy of the latter.
But about the middle of the seventh century, 660 B.C., a change appeared,
associated with the name of Psammetichos I. of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty,
resulting in a renaissance in state and in art. This vigor in Egyptian affairs
seems to have found its parallel in other parts of the ancient world. In distant
Mesopotamia, Assyrian kings were building vast palaces, and decorating them
with the most perfect of known Assyrian sculptures, little conscious of the
Persian power in the north which should soon lay waste their land, and
conquer Egypt also. Psammetichos, who appears to have had Libyan blood
in his veins, encouraged intercourse with the Greeks, and other distant lands.
His policy was followed out by his successors ; and, one hundred years later,
Amasis encouraged the settlement of Greeks at his capital, SaYs. But Amasis
was scarcely in his grave when the Persian Cambyses appeared on the borders,
and leduced Egypt (about 527 B.C.) to a province of his kingdom. During the
following, the fifth and fourth centuries, when in Greece a Pheidias and Praxi-
teles were in their prime, the Persians repeated their invasions, meeting with
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
THE RENAISSANCE OF SCULPTURE. 65
spasmodic resistance. The last and most effective blow to Egyptian life was
received with the conquest under Alexander. From that time independence
and national vigor seem to have slowly vanished ; and Egypt became a sub-
missive servant, first of the Ptolemies, and finally of the Romans.
During the SaYtic period, as during that of Thebes which preceded it,
temple and tomb seem to have been the sculptor's principal field of activity.
Both king and subject still desired the preservation of the mummy and its
tomb, as well as the perpetuation of the funeral services in the chapel ; but
the nature of the land of the Delta required other modes of procedure than
those practised on other sites. On the alluvial plains of Lower Egypt, subject
to the annual overflow, security against moisture could only be attained by
the erection of vast structures, whose foundations would resist the flowing
waters. That this was the course pursued, is evident from a few ruins and the
testimony of ancient writers.
The kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, as we are told by Herodotos, found
their last resting-place in the midst of the temple at SaYs, sacred to Neith,
described by the Greek historian as of great magnitude. No ruins of these
royal tombs are preserved, to throw light on their structure and decora-
tion.
Private Egyptians of this time seem to have deposited their dead in exten-
sive structures of brick built for this purpose, the adjoining chambers serving
as chapels. Two such mountains of brick were discovered by Champollion,
still containing the funereal figurines and vases.96 But these masses with their
cells between, washed every year by the Nile, have absorbed, like a sponge,
the moisture of the rivier, and become, for the most part, hopeless ruins.
But, while SaYs itself has rendered very little, the monuments of this age
at Thebes and Memphis still exist. These consist mostly of tombs, which are
found to contain statues and figurines, as well as reliefs, showing great fond-
ness for elegance and costliness of material, and a more elaborate taste than
that of the times gone before. Wood, formerly so much used, and so easily
worked, is rarely found ; but bronze, Oriental alabaster, green and black basalt,
porphyry, and serpentine, are very frequently employed. Far greater costli-
ness of material is likewise noticeable in the shabtiy as well as the statuettes
strewn in the sand for purification, and in the large figures. In bronze an
elaborate finish adds to the elegance znd finesse of the figures, well illustrated
by those belonging to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, and found by Mariette at
Medeenet-Aboo. On raising a stone, there were brought to light nearly a
thousand bronzes, all representing Osiris. In these the diversity of color in
the details is obtained by layers of lapis lazuli and brilliant red paste intro-
duced into the bronze, as well as by threads of gold filling up furrows cut into
the metal.
But, besides this tendency to employ more costly "^^^^^^V^here isalso^Qlp
y y ^^
66 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
change in the treatment of forms. Colossal statues now give place to works
more unpretending in size, but finished with the painstaking care of a cameo
or miniature painting. The broad, massive treatment and sketchy surface of
older statues are now exchanged for roundness in detail, and astonishing neat-
ness of manipulation. Although the inherited general forms are retained,
there is a decided attempt to make them more agreeable by mellowing their
sharp lines, and bestowing upon them delicacy of execution. But the works
of art thus produced lack the vigor of the older period. Portraits now lose
their realistic character beneath a veil, as it were, of elegance, frequently
robbing them of any particular interest.
Among the most perfect of the works of this time is the statue, now in
Boelak, of Queen Ameneritis, a lady who played a most important part
in the history of her day. She was the wife of one of the Ethiopian kings of
the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, and grandmother to Psammetichos I. The figure of
this queen, 1.67 meter high, is in costly Oriental alabaster, and appears to have
been surmounted by two golden plumes, unfortunately now gone. She is clad
in a tightly fitting robe, her arms are clasped by admirably executed bracelets,
and her head is covered by the elaborate head-dress of the goddesses. One
inscription teaches us that this choice figure of the queen was executed while
she lived ; and another, on the pilaster at the back, is the dedicatory invocation
to the gods.
Of the powerful and enlightened kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, so
few portraits remain, that it would seem as though they had either been
destroyed or carried off in the repeated invasions of the Persians ; but of the
gods and private persons, numerous representations exist. Although the light
point where centres the art-interest of this long-checkered period is the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty and the house of Psammetichos, yet its peculiar excel-
lences continued unabated down to about the time of the Greek occupation.
In a tomb at Sakkarah, belonging to the Thirtieth — the last — Egyptian
Dynasty, three figures in serpentine, now in Boolak, were discovered by Mari-
ette, which admirably illustrate all the peculiarities of this last renaissance of
Egyptian art.97 These small figures are scarcely 91 centimetres (3 feet) in
height, and represent Osiris ; Isis, who shared in the protection of the dead ;
and a high functionary of state, Psammetichos, standing under the protection
of the goddess Hathor, who has the form of a cow. A more careful model-
ling in such obdurate material, equalled only by its elaborate finish, it would
be difficult to find than is evident in these statues, having thereby more the
charm of the cameo than of bold statuesque rendering.
In relief of the Sartic period, as in statuary, a few formal changes are evi-
dent. The representations of the ritual, the ordeals of the departed, and the
army of judicial gods, still invade the tomb ; and a few scenes like those of
the Ancient Empire, quiet and rural, may be seen. But these are no longer so
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
PROPORTIONS OF THE HUMAN FORM. 67
unaffected in form : there is an attempted introduction of varied movement
and more graceful proportions, which, however, is seldom truly satisfactory ; as
it stops half-way.
With the close of the Thirtieth Dynasty we stand at the termination of
what was truly national and vigorous in Egyptian sculpture. Looking back,
we marvel at its realism at the outset, as in the earliest statues of Memphis ;
at its boldness in rendering colossal forms, as seen in the works of Rameses ;
and, finally, at the delicate and painstaking finish of this SaUic period. It is
difficult, in the world of ever-changing form and thought about us, to compre-
hend fully the Egyptians' feelings in holding so tenaciously through thousands
of years to the same modes of expression in sculpture. Some have sought an
explanation in a hieratic canon from which artists never swerved. From very
early times the Egyptian does not appear to have worked at hap-hazard, but to
have adopted a uniform scale of proportions, which rarely was altered, but
within its limits underwent many nuances of change. At first the standing
body, male or female, is divided into nineteen parts ; the unit taken being the
middle finger. 9^ The ancient Egyptian seems to have observed, that, as the
body grows, the bones of the hand are the only ones which grow in the same
proportion from infancy to age, and have constantly the same relation to the
whole frame. A seated figure occupied fifteen of the nineteen parts. In
the reliefs of the Ancient Empire, the upper part of the body occupies more
squares than it does in those of the Old Theban Empire. The forms are con-
sequently thicker and heavier ; while the tendency is, as time goes on, to make
the legs longer, and the form more slender. With the Twenty-sixth Dynasty
we find that the form is divided into twenty-three parts from heel to summit of
head, or twenty-one and a quarter to top of forehead, seated figures occupying
nineteen of the twenty-three squares. This is, doubtless, the canon mentioned
by Diodoros.99 In it the form is about equally divided at the hips, and the
head is one-eighth of the whole, — a proportion which we find also employed by
the Greeks in their figures of the heroic style. The great diversity of propor-
tion, however, existing between monuments of the same age, makes it difficult
to believe that for the master artist any rigid canon existed. Doubtless the
squares which mark off the form were used more to guide the copyists, of
whom thousands must have been employed. In the tomb of Seti I. the artist
altogether disdains the use of squares. In other reliefs they are clearly
simply used to facilitate the arrangement of the groups and hieroglyphics. On
a funereal stele in the British Museum from the Ancient Empire, the seated
figure of the upper row of reliefs occupies the same number of squares as the
standing ones below. Evidently, then, the similarity between monuments of
the same date may be due less to strict canon than to the prevailing taste
of the time. Thus, as we have seen in the Ancient Empire, stocky forms
preponderate; in the Theban they are more slender; and in the Twenty-sixtlL _^t _^
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68 EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE.
Dynasty they change agaiiv the usual proportions being those which Diodoros
reports to have been common to all Egyptian art.
With the subjugation of Egypt by Alexander (332 B.C.), a change, indeed,
came over Egyptian affairs. The conqueror, by introducing the policy of leav-
ing the vanquished in the possession of their religion, arts, and customs,
happily secured for Egypt, after its centuries of warfare, two hundred and
seventy-five years of peace. After the death of Alexander's son, Egypt fell to
the Ptolemies, who form the Thirty-third Dynasty ; and her political history
from now on was merged in the struggles of Greek princes. As true Greeks,
the Rolemies, though often politically unfortunate, showed great zeal in lit-
erature and art. Under their patronage, Manetho, the Egyptian, wrote in
Greek the annals of his country; the sacred books of the Hebrews were trans-
lated in the Septuagint version, and the great library of four hundred thousand
volumes at Alexandria was collected. It was a Ptolemy who, according to a
wild report, brought back the twenty-five thousand Egyptian statues carried
off by Cambyses ; and no dynasty after the Nineteenth erected more and
grander structures on the banks of the Nile than did these Greek rulers. But,
although the temples they erected are numerous and imposing, the sculptures
that adorn them are without character, and show great falling-off from true
Egyptian style. The architectural simplicity and strength of former times are
gone. The introduction of the free spirit of the Greeks could not rejuvenate,
rather does it seem to have hastened the decay of, the traditional art of Egypt.
With the Roman conquest, Egypt lost all political significance, and became
little more than the granary of Rome. The emperor Hadrian, with his passiom
for every thing that was old, did much for the encouragement of art in Egypt,
and sought to galvanize a new life into these antiquated forms. In honor at
his favorite Antinous, he caused a city to be built, and many costly monuments
to be erected. Before his tomb were sphinxes and obelisks ; but this Roman-
Egyptian art is characterless, — a mere affectation. The severe but beautiful
forms of the sculpture of the olden times, although retaining their rigidity,
became with every day more gross and careless. After the dismemberment of
the Roman dominion into the two rules of the East and the West, Egypt fell
to the Oriental ruler. It was not, however, until Theodosius promulgated his
famous edict, that Christianity became the religion of the state, — 381 B.C.
The emperor ordered the closing of all the temples, and the destruction of the
figures of the gods, which many Egyptians of his day still adored. Thus was
consummated the destruction of pagan Egypt, with its Pantheon of innu-
merable gods. Thousands of statues, we are told, perished : the temples were
profaned and destroyed, leaving ruins which in the course of centuries have
been shrouded by the sands of the desert, but are now slowly throwing off
their covering mantle, and revealing their treasured secrets to the eager stu-
dent of antiquity.
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SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
69
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CHAPTER V.
CHALDiEA.
Mesopotamia in General. — Chaldaea. — Historical Sketch. — Clay Tablets. — Ancient Myths. — Can-
nes. — Izdhubar. — Titanic Races. — Cylinders illustrating Myths. — Babylonian Religion. — Goddess
Istar. — Her Statues and Statuettes. ^Diminutive Remains. — Discoveries at Tello. — Mounds. —
Gudea. — Head found at Tello. — Hardness of Material of Remains. — Traces of Egyptian Influ-
ence.— Independent Traits of Sculptures. — Subjects of Primitive Reliefs. — Character of Works.
— More Vigorous Works. — Statue of an Architect. — Excellences of these Sculptures. — Later
More Elaborate Works. — Resemblance to Greek Archaic Sculptures. — Cubes of Masonry and
Contents. — Bronzes. — Influence of Chaldaean Art.
As the Nile is the bearer of blessings to Egypt, so through the heart of
Mesopotamia flow two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, watering plains
which were the seats of some of the hoariest civilizations of antiquity.
Of these our knowledge was long confined to the reports of a few Greek
travellers, and to fragments from a history written in Greek by Berossos, a
Chaldaean priest. But the past forty years have opened up undreamed-of
monuments, over which even Xenophon's Ten Thousand seem to have passed,
unconscious of the treasures buried in the soil, and of which Herodotos* de-
scriptions give no notice. The explorations of Botta, Layard, Rawlinson,
Place, Rassam, Loftus, and last, but not least, of de Sarzec, have opened to our
astonished view ruined cities, palaces, and temples, witnesses to a powerful and
long-lived civilization ; while countless mounds, still unexplored, await patient
labor with the pick and spade, that we may fill out our picture of buried
empires.'^
Northern and Southern Mesopotamia are strikingly different in geological
conformation. To the south, in ancient Chaldaea, or Babylonia, the surface
is flat and uninteresting ; but to the north of Hit on the Euphrates, and of
Sumarah on the Tigris, the plain is rolling, and slightly elevated in rocky
ridges.'o' It is to the vast alluvial plain of Chaldaea in the south, that we must
look for the oldest monuments. On all sides the level expanse is broken by
solitary mounds, the remains of ancient cities or temples : elsewhere we see
elevated embankments, marking the course of ancient or recent canals ; and,
towards the south, a few sand-hills. These forsaken plains now support a
scanty population of wandering Bedouins, but once were proverbial for their
fruitfulness, and teemed with inhabitants. Deep mystery shrouds the remote
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72 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
beginnings of Chaldaean history. Enough, however, has been deciphered from
the monuments to lead with certainty to the conclusion, that the races then
occupying Babylonia were non-Semitic. *°* To them has been given the name
Accadian and Summerian ; but their origin is hypothetical in the extreme, the
term Turanian being often a convenient cloak for vague conjecture. Long
before 1700 B.C., Semitic tribes obtained possession of the land; and this Ac-
cadian tongue became extinct. The civilization which then arose sank before
the Assyrians in lyoo B.C., and is scarcely heard of until 625 B.C., when
Nabopolassar revived its glory. The conquering Persians, however, soon ab-
sorbed this later Babylonian empire into their own realm, which, in turn, fell
before the world-<:onquering Alexander, to become the kingdom of the Seleu-
kidae, and, later,* a part of Roman rule.
Before considering the monuments of ancient Babylonia, this battle-ground
of empires, let us turn back to the gray dawn of antiquity, long before Assur
had gone forth to establish the new empire of Assyria, and before Abraham had
left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. In that earliest time, we find that the
Accadians had written scientific and poetical works, woven a web of fantastic
myth, and fashioned forms of gods and men which should serve as models to-
some of the later people of Western Asia. From clay tablets, preserved in the
British Museum, these myths are being read, supplementing the meagre words
of Berossos. Their artistic expression has at last been traced in rare cylinders,,
as well as statues and reliefs, recently discovered in Southern Chaldaea, covered
with inscriptions in the same tongue, and now in part in the Louvre. A hasty
preliminary glance at a few of these myths will throw light on many of the
forms of art met with in the existing monuments of Chaldaea and its Assyrian
heir, revealing, as well, the fountain-head from which Phoenicia, and, in a few
cases, even Greece, indirectly drew.
One story is, that, during the remote ages before the Flood, a semi-human^
semi-fish being, but full of wisdom, called Cannes, came up out of the neigh-
boring sea, the modern Persian Gulf, and taught primitive man the arts of civili-
zation. According to Berossos, he appeared wearing over his head a fish ; and
such a being appears on Assyrian monuments. Closely akin to this god seems
that fish-tailed creature seen on very ancient Babylonian cylinders, evidently
the prototype of the Philistines' Dagon of Bible history, of the god Ophion of
the Phoenicians, as well as of the Geron, or Triton, of much later Greek myth
and art. '03
The exploits of heroes who peopled the land after the Flood formed a whole
cycle of romance, which likewise throws light on many creations of later days.
The hero of the national epic, Izdhubar, doubtless Nimrod, the "mighty
hunter " of Bible story, whose narrow escapes and marvellous achievements
in subduing terrible monsters are recorded in the Deluge tablets of the British
Museum, unquestionably furnished the gem-engraver in ancient Babylonia, and
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• EARLY MYTHS OF SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA. 73
the sculptor in Assyria, with subjects for his fantasy ; and the m)rth itself fur-
nished, in many respects, the first draught for the stories of the Greek Heracles
and Aphrodite.^04 Izdhubar, by some thought to be a solar hero, and by others
a more purely historical being, attacked Erech (modern Warka), which was
ruled by a goddess or queen celebrated for her beauty, the daughter of Anu,
and named Istar, the Ashtoreth of the Bible and the Phoenicians, from whom
the Greeks later may have derived their name Aphrodite. '^s In the conflict
Izdhubar needed the aid of Heabani, the seer who appears on monuments as
having the body of a man, but ox's horns, legs, and ears, and goat's or ox's
tail.^o^ Istar, conceiving a passion for the powerful Izdhubar which was unre-
quited, sent against him a hybrid monster, a bull with wings. But with
Heabani's aid this monster was slain, Izdhubar dedicating its horns in one of
his temples. Sickness afterwards befell the hero, and the sage Heabani was
killed by a poisonous animal. To seek immortality for himself and his lamented
Heabani, Izdhubar started out to find Hasisadra, or the Bible Noah, the hero
who had outlived the Flood, and was believed to be translated to dwell with the
gods, somewhere in the neighborhood of the Persian Gulf. On this long and
perilous journey Izdhubar wandered to the boundaries of the world, where
scorpion-men guarded the gate of the sun, then through the sandy desert, and
a forest where the trees bore gems as fruit, until he reached the borders of the
sea, and the ocean-gates over which the women Sabitu and Seduri, the " eye of
youth," kept eternal watch. At last he met the Chaldaean Charon, with whom
he sailed to the abode of the blessed, where he beheld the hero of the Deluge,
and heard his story recounted. Here Izdhubar prayed for life to Heabani ; and
Merodach, the sun-god, came at his behest : and the ghost of Heabani mounted
up from earth, and passed to the heaven of heroes, " where they feast on
couches, and drink the pure waters of life." It was here, in the ''land of the
silver sky," that the court-poets of Nineveh of later times prayed that the
" monarch might find his eternal home." For the first lays, telling of Hasi-
sadra and of Izdhubar, we must go back to a past that was already half for-
gotten in the days of Abraham ; and the tenacity of life of these stories appears
from the fact, that one of the Izdhubar legends is still told on the banks of the
Tigris about a strange monster dwelling in one of its caves. '^7
But besides this semi-mythic, semi-historical epic, there were stories told in
Accadian of the creation of Titanic races. One of these tablets, anciently
brought to Nineveh from Cutha, describes how the first creation was one of mon-
• sters and giants, "men with the bodies of birds of the desert, human beings with
the faces of ravens, the terrible brood of Tihamat, the principle of chaos and
night." One of these, called " Thunderbolt," gives us, moreover, a hint of the
atmospheric origin of the legend. '^^ Against these the gods fight ; and terrible
are the conflicts in varied form, apparently significant of the eternal battle
between light and darkness, fire and moisture, that struggle making up the life
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74 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
of the cosmic universe. So Merodach, or Bel, the sun-god, with "helmet erf
light," and his cimeter the lightning-flash, goes out, in ancient Chaldsean
myth, against Tihamat, the Deep, and her allies, the seven storm-demons,
overcoming this seven-headed serpent of the night by means of the forked
thunderbolt in his hand, and by his sickle-shaped sword. '*>9
On ancient Babylonian cylinders, which were used as talismans or seals,
and belong to the age of the Accadian kings, at least 2000 B.C., and per-
haps earlier, scenes from the legends of Izdhubar and these struggles with
evil frequently appear."® Those occurring most often are the struggles of
Izdhubar and Heabani with the lion and the bull, the journey of Izdhubar in
search of Hasisadra, the latter in his ark, and the war between the winged
god Merodach and Tihamat the sea-dragon, well represented in the British
Museum.
In the religion of Babylon, many elements in the conception of the gods
are present which were carried much farther by the Syrians. One striking
feature is, that the powers of nature are interpreted as sexual, the female ele-
ment predominating. The powers that gave life and that destroyed it were,
moreover, combined in the one goddess, who at times seems the incorporation
of productiveness, and again of destruction. As the enemy of life, she was a
stern virgin without love, and armed with deadly weapons, her priests being
self-made eunuchs. As life-giving, nurturing mother, on the other hand, she
was known by many names, — the good Istar, Beltis, and Mylitta.*" When,
according to the tablets of the British Museum, Istar disappeared in the under-
world, and was there imprisoned, the sexual elements in the animal creation
remained dormant on earth, and did not awaken until she was set free. Her
rites, in keeping with this latter phase of her character, were thoroughly sensual,
and attended by unbridled license, and wildest gratification of the lusts, if we
may believe Herodotos' story.
Numerous alabaster statuettes found in the ruins of Chaldaea, some of
which are now in the Louvre, represent her as a nude female form, often with
hands at the breasts, the fountain-springs of life and nourishment.'" A frag-
ment of a large statue of this goddess, of good workmanship but unpleasant
realism, is now in the British Museum. It was found at Koyunjik, and has
the dedication of Assur-bel-kala, a king who reigned in the eleventh century
B.C., long before the palaces excavated at Koyunjik were built. Besides such
feeble reminiscences of early Chaldaean forms, excavations long yielded noth-
ing. The walls of massive temple-ruins and of palaces, built of clay bricks,
were found coated simply with plaster, or glazed with gayly-colored tiles. No
facings of stone or marble sculptured m relief rewarded the excavator. Be-
sides, the figures discovered were very small, and in terra-cotta or alabaster,
clearly, for the most part, the product of a late period, scarcely older than the
time of Nebuchadnezzar. Hence the parent-stock whence sprang Assyrian
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EXCAVATIONS AT TELLO. 75
sculpture, with its elaborate finish, and thorough mastery of technique, was
still an enigma.
But the excavations in Southern Chaldaea by M. de Sarzec, French consul
at Bassorah, between the years 1877 and 1881, have thrown welcome light on
this obscure subject."3 Here were at last found many statues, and some frag-
ments of relief, which are now in the Louvre, and offer an invaluable testimony
to the sculptor's activity in this birthplace of Oriental civilization. The spot
where M. de Sarzec has been thus happily rewarded for his patient and self-
denying labors is in the midst of a malarial waste on the Chatt-el-Hai, a large
artificial canal connecting the Tigris in the north with the Euphrates in the
south, and entering the latter river some distance east of the marshes, into
which it spreads, before finally joining the Tigris. Tello, where de Sarzec
excavated, is remote from settled habitations, being frequented only by nomads.
Here a group of mounds, covering a space of about six or seven kilometers
from north-west to south-east, rise abruptly out of the broad, boundless plain,
and hence have received from the Arabs their name Tello, or "the hills."
The largest of these mounds rises fifteen meters above the desert, and has the
shape of a parallelogram fifty-three meters long and thirty-one wide ; its four
corners coinciding with the four points of the compass. When pierced, it was
found to contain the ruins of a complicated structure. Courts, large and small,
opened into one another by narrow passages ; the ground-plan calling strikingly
to mind the far more extensive and ambitious palaces of Assyrian kings. At
one side was a solid mass of kiln-baked bricks united with bitumen, and rising
in terraces, one smaller than the other, suggesting the temple-ruins of Baby-
lon and Assyria, those aspiring towers of Babel planned to command the
broad horizon, and serving as a terraced substructure for the temple proper
erected on the top. In these modest ruins of Tello, we seem to have an
architectural prototype for the later buildings of the land. The age of these
structures is determined by the inscriptions in Summerian found on the bricks
and sculptured fragments, bearing the name of one Gudea. This Gudea was
already known through his inscriptions on a few small bronzes and stone
tablets discovered by Mr. Rassam in 1878 and 1879 *" Babylonia, and now in
the British Museum. His approximate date is supposed to be 2000 B.C., full
1 100 years before the oldest discovered Assyrian palaces at Nimroud were
built, and about contemporary with the earlier part of the Hyksos rule in
Egypt.
In the large mound on the stoneless plain of Chaldaea no sculptured reliefs
were found lining Gudea's buildings; but each court, chamber, and passage
yielded its contingent of statues, large and small. In the main court, seven-
teen meters wide by twenty-one meters long, the greatest number were dis-
covered; nine statues, a small stone head, as well as smaller figures, there
rewarding the excavator's labors. Outside of the building was found the
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76 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
largest figure of all, and in a passage a small figure of strange green color ;
in other mounds a few fragments of relief, besides a remarkably fine head,
covered with a turban or wig (Fig. 40) ; and, in the plain itself, a few bronze
figures were brought to light.
It is a matter causing no slight perplexity, that many of these monuments
found in the midst of the alluvial plains of Southern Chaldaea are of diorite
and dolerite, which could have existed nowhere in the neighborhood, but were
favorite materials with the Egyptians. Inscriptions in Summerian on the
sculptures themselves give the welcome key to this problem, showing that a
lively intercourse existed between Egypt and Ancient Chaldaea. In these
inscriptions Oppert has found it stated, that the mountains of Maggan, i.e.,
the peninsula of Sinai, and that part of Egypt washed by the Red Sea, fur-
nished the stones for the statues which this Chaldaean ruler put up in honor
of his gods. "4 So Gudea seems to take pleas-
ure in recording the fact, that the gold and
stones with which he honored his gods were
brought from afar. "5 These facts, and some
superficial peculiarities of the sculptures dis-
covered by M. de Sarzec, such as the square,
firm rendering of the form, the lack of orna-
mental detail, the shorn heads and beardless
faces, like those of Egypt, might tempt us to
find a certain direct dependence of these Chal-
daean remains upon the forms of the art of the
ng. 40. H.ad found at uiio in 8oM.m pyramid land. Careful observation, however,
reveals in them a strong national type, quite
different from any thing Egyptian, and having its own individuality well pro-
nounced.
Signs of the eflFects of fire in many parts showed that that fierce element
had much to do in bringing about the destruction of these Chaldaean monu-
ments. Happily, however, many of the statues and reliefs, though mutilated,
have preserved a delightful freshness of form and surface, enabling us to judge
of their artistic character. In one of the mounds, fragments of a very primi-
tive art, evidently feeling its way, were brought to light. Here appear reliefs
on both sides of a stele of white stone, accompanied by very archaic inscrip-
tions, in which it is thought that primitive idiogrammes may be recognized.
In these reliefs the cruel scenes of war are traced with distressing minuteness.
Flocks of vultures fly off with heads or other parts of human bodies : again,
corpses are piled up, over which men mount, carrying baskets. Others, of
much larger stature, carry a sort of military insignia in the shape of a spread
eagle, and wear the cap with double horns, so often seen on cylinders and
later Assyrian sculptures. The inscriptions connected with these reliefs have
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STATUES FOUND AT TELLO. 77
not been deciphered ; but the fact that bronze figures found in graves at Tello
carry baskets, as do the figures here represented as walking over the dead,
seems to indicate a funereal scene in this relief, perhaps an offering to the
dead. The shapes of all these figures betray a very inexperienced hand : the
eye, for instance, is almost triangular ; the ear is rudely indicated, as in all early
art ; and the aquiline nose is confounded with the forehead in one single curve.
Here, then, we seem to have Chaldaean art represented to us in its feeble
beginnings. But that it afterwards mounted to firmness of execution, and
clear conception of nature, is seen from other remains discovered by M. de
Sarzec.
This progress may be traced through two stages, — the first vigorous, and
strongly approaching nature ; the second elaborated, and inclined to conven-
tionality. The first class is made up of statues and heads found principally
in the large mound. These are all alike in style and technique, and many of
them bear Gudea's name inscribed upon the shoulder. They do not, therefore,
represent divinity, but, probably, the pious Gudea himself, who, according to a
full inscription on one of them, dedicates his own image in the temple of his
gods, to whom he promises, besides, offerings of milk and sacred bread. Some-
times the figure is seated, sometimes standing, but always has the hands crossed
in the pose taken by Orientals to-day when awaiting their master's orders. The
same attitude is, moreover, repeatedly seen in figurines found in other parts
of Babylonia, and in large statues from Assyria, doubtless indicating that it
had a religious import. One statue with folded hands holds on its lap the plan
of a building, and seems to represent an architect, perhaps Gudea himself, who
may here present the work he has erected to the gods, the inscription on it
making mention of a statue put up by him in thp temple (Fig. 41). This
quietly seated worshipper — as do the standing figures — has a stocky form,
firm build, and short neck. They are clothed in drapery which is fairly pas-
toral in its simplicity. A long shawl, without any under-garment, is wrapped
about the body so as to cover the left arm, and passes around under the right
arm, which is thus left nude."^ Sometimes this shawl, as in the figure of the
seated architect, is partly covered with dedicatory inscriptions ; and every-
where it is bordered with a narrow fringe. This border, However, is not elabo-
rately worked out, as the richly embroidered borders and fringes on Assyrian
sculptures, but is simply indicated by incised parallel lines. It is evident that
the artist has endeavored to render the drapery as fitting to the form beneath,
and also to represent natural folds, as appears around the arms. This pecul-
iarity is not met with, either in Assyrian or Egyptian sculptures, in both of
which the natural folds of woven or embroidered stuffs are ignored. The nude,
wherever it appears, is rendered with a keen eye for nature, as seen in the
muscular arms, hands, and feet ; the details of toes and fingers being far more
truthful than in the schematic or exaggerated treatment of Assyria, o/k/tf^|/>
78
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
absence of these details in Egypt. In the face is evident the most vigor of
artistic rendition, as seen in the curious head in Fig. 40, found near the great
mound. Here the heavy head-gear is of a stuff which gives the impression of
curled hair. It is not impossible that this is an imitation of a kind of sheepskin,
still extensively used in Persia for men's bonnets, and called in European trade
Astrakhan. M. de Sarzec tells us, that Christian priests of the Chaldaean
church in the neighborhood of his excavations still wear a turban made of a
black stuff, which has the curled appear-
ance of this ancient head-dress. How
square and firm the proportions of the
face ! The eye, that feature which always
caused the ancient sculptor the most diffi-
culty, is here not obliquely set ; nor are
its lids undecided, but clearly defined, and
widely open, giving the face an agreeable
expression. The nose seems to have been
arching, but not so curved as that met
with in Assyrian sculptures; nor is that
brutal fierceness in detail here seen which
we find in those later works. There seems
in these features, indeed, a near kinship
to the straightforward simplicity of archaic
Greek faces, and, in the pose of the feet,
a striking similarity to that of the old
statues found at Miletos, and now in the
British Museum.
Besides these vigorous sculptures are
those which show much greater elabora-
tion on the part of the sculptor. In the
latter the old realism, as seen in the tur-
baned head and the seated architect, dis-
appears ; and the eyes are placed obliquely. The shorn heads and beardless
faces give place to very carefully curled hair and beards, like the over-fine
coiffure of Assyrian kings and warriors. But the finesse of execution about
these fragments partly makes amends for the loss of naturalness.
In addition to these monuments in stone from palace or temple, M. de
Sarzec discovered, in graves, others in bronze, which have cuneiform inscrip-
tions, a fact indicating their early and not Greek or Parthian origin, as might
be inferred from the number of late graves also occupying the soil. In the
plain, M. de Sarzec discovered four cubes of masonry composed of large bricks
fastened together with bitumen, the cubes measuring eighty centimeters across
the face. Within these cubes he found a cavity filled with yellowish sand, in
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Fig. 41. Statut of an Anhit9et, found at Toiio.
Louoro, N
BRONZES FROM TOMBS. 79
which were two bronze statuettes safely packed away, — one a man kneeling,
and the other a woman standing. At the feet of each, and fastened into the
bitumen lining the cavity, were two tablets, — one of white, and the other of
black, stone, — having a cuneiform inscription, which was repeated in -the
bronze figures. That these in some way concerned the dead appeared when,
in the same neighborhood, M. de Sarzec found a tomb in which the skeleton
was still lying, and near its head a statuette with a similar tablet and inscrip-
tion, and bearing on its head a basket. What the exact date of these very
interesting bronze figures may be cannot be determined until their inscriptions
have been read, although the cuneiform characters speak for an early date.
The very great antiquity of the bronze figures of Gudea, which have long been
in the British Museum, show, moreover, that casting in bronze was understood
as early as his day in that ancient land."7
In these varied monuments in Chaldaea we have, then, in all probability,
that parent-stock which should be followed in time by the far more pompous
and conventional art of Assyria, the daughter land, and which should influence
the early people of Asia Minor and the Phoenicians, as their monuments seem
to prove.
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CHAPTER VI.
ASSYRIA.
Natural Features of the Land. — Alabaster used for Sculpture. — Absence of Marble. — Character of
the Assyrians. — History. — Paucity of Remains from the Oldest Time. — Remains near Beyrout —
Remains from Second Period. — Nimroud. — Assur-nazir-paFs Palace. — Kirubi, — Portal Guardians
at Nimroud. — Lions. — Mysterious Symbolism. — Union of High and Low Relief. — Alabaster
Slabs. — Prominence of the Monarch. — Colossal Winged Figures. — Tendency to Ornamentation.—
Prototypes of Greek Ornament. — Bronze and Ivory Fragments. — Balawat Gates. — Incrustation
of Statues. — Ruins at Khorsabad. — Sargon's Palace. — Alabaster Reliefs and Sculptural Adorn-
ment of Gateways. — Greater Size of Sculptures at Khorsabad. — Statues taking the Place of Bulls
at Some Gates. — Incrustation of Palm-tree. — Reliefs. — Glorification of Monarch. — Battle and
Hunting Scenes. — Feasting. — Color. — Last Period. — Ruins at Koyunjik (Nineveh) and at Nim-
roud.— Greater Variety and Elaborateness of Sculpture. — Greater Naturalness. — Assur-bani-pal's
Palace. — Little Progress in Human Form. — Representations of Animals. — Hunting-scenes. —
Fondness for Brutal Scenes. — Egypt and Assyria Contrasted.
To the north of the level plains of Chaldaea stretches the land of Assur,
bounded by the Tigris and the Euphrates. Unlike its southern neighbor, this
<:ountry is a plateau undulating in character, crossed by hilly ridges, and skirted
on the east and north by mountains of greater height. The alluvial clay, which
is here most abundant, is suitable for brick and terra-cotta ; the near Koordish
mountains furnish a hard yellow limestone ; and, from the more remote ranges
to the north, black basalt is to be obtained. Besides these harder materials,
which had, moreover, to be brought from a distance to the ancient building-
sites near the Tigris, a soft alabaster, frequently called gypsum, crops out from
the rolling plain, and the ridges which border the river. From antiquity this
stone has been used, and is still cut by the natives into thin slabs, much smaller,
however, than those preserved from the days of Assyria's glory. "^ It is of
coarse grain, and, when first quarried, has a grayish-white tone, which deepens
on exposure to the air. It is, moreover, so soft that it may be whittled like
wood, and is most susceptible to the eflFects of moisture. Reliefs which had
been accidentally submerged but three days in the river were found hopelessly
obliterated. The surface of sculptures in the British Museum, likewise, shows
this perishable nature; being affected by the salt air of the English metropolis,
and veiled with a harsh, opaque patifia^ quite different from that of freshly un-
•earthed slabs, as we are told by Place. The softness and perishability of this
material rendered it unfit to become the best medium for expressing sculptural
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EARLIEST ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 8 1
forms, and allowed the sculptor to venture but timidly into the realm of free
execution ; although the principal cause of the defects of Assyrian art, doubt-
less, lies much deeper than any merely technical hinderances. Marble — that
material combining clearness and translucency with hardness sufficient to resist
injury — does not appear to have been at hand ; and the objects in this stone,
found in Assyrian ruins, are both small and scarce.
And yet the advantages enjoyed by the Assyrians were far greater than
those of their predecessors, the Babylonians in ancient Chaldaea, where not
even alabaster was to be found, and stones were brought from remote Sinai and
Egypt. Still another advantage enjoyec^ by the Assyrians was, that of build-
ing up their civilization and art on the earlier basis of their neighbors.
> Aptly called the " Romans of the East," their earliest historical rulers ap-
pear as mighty conquerors, who know no mercy and give no quarter. By 1 500
B.C., Assyria had become a powerful independent state, ruling over northern
provinces, as well as Babylonia in the south. In the midst of this earlier
period of Assyrian empire, which lasted to about 909 B.C., stand out, as mighty
conquerors, Sargon I. and Tiglath Pileser I. Clay tablets, preserved in libra-
ries of later kings, recount the exploits of these monarchs, their prowess, their
pillaging expeditions in other lands, and their religious devotion, as shown in
the erection of temples to their gods.
Although the Assyrian state was thus extended, and the king, at once head
of the army, supreme judge and viceroy, or high-priest, enjoyed unrivalled
power, still no palaces of this older time have as yet been discovered. Only
stray sculptured fragments have been found, preserved in ruins of a much later
day, as their inscriptions testify. Such is the torso of the goddess noticed above
(p. 74), and discovered at Koyunjik, ancient Nineveh, and now in the British
Museum. It bears the inscription of Assur-bel-kala, an Assyrian king who
reigned about 1 100 B.C. Here the female form is represented as fully nude;
and the sculptor has succeeded in giving the roundness and voluptuousness of
Oriental forms, even in the hard material, basalt. But like his fellows of an
earlier and later day in Mesopotamia, and, in fact, most people with an unde-
veloped artistic sense, he has carved his dedicatory inscription directly over the
surface of the skin, in disregard of the laws of taste. Whether this statue is,
indeed, the work of an early sculptor in Assyria, or was pirated from Babylonia,
the home of this nude representation of the female deity, cannot be certain.
The latter supposition would find support in the practice, common with con-
quering kings, like Cambyses at a later day, of carrying off the gods of the
conquered peoples.
Near Beyrout in Syria are two monuments, erected by kings of this period,
one of them being by Tiglath Pileser I. It is carved in the face of the rock
at the Nahr-el-kelb, and rises above the high-road where conquerors from the
time of Rameses II. have passed, leaving the records of their success."9 The
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82 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
Assyrian sculptures here, from about 1140-1100 B.C., have the human figure
very low and squat ; there are no decorations of dress, hair, and beard, as in
later Assyrian sculpture ; and the whole cast of the figures calls to mind that
of the ancient Babylonian king of 1120 B.C., whose tablet is now to be seen
in the British Museum.
But, while the first period of Assyrian empire offers almost nothing for the
study of sculpture, the second period is rich in works which have been brought
to light.
This second period, lasting for about three hundred years, is ushered in by
the powerful form of Assur-nazir-pal, who reigned in the ninth century B.C.
(885-860), when Greek minstrels were probably first sounding Homeric verse.
The warlike exploits of this monarch are found recorded in lengthy inscrip-
tions, which dwell on the victories he won, and the cruel manner in which
he dealt with his captives. We learn that after one campaign he had his vic-
tims flayed alive : in another he cut off their hands, feet, noses, and ears, and
put out their eyes. Of the heads of decapitated prisoners he made one mound,
and of their limbs another; thus signalizing in a most ghastly manner the great-
ness of his power. Captives allowed to live, he impressed into hard service ;
forcing them to raise a vast mound for his new palace at Nimroud, believed to
be the ancient Calah of Scripture, which now became the most important city
in the land. Excavations made by Layard in these mounds, about twenty miles
south of modern Mosul, uncovered the ruins of Assur-nazir-pal's palace, as well
as others of a later date. Among this complex of buildings, the one termed
the North-west Palace, and two adjoining smaller structures, were found to con-
tain numerous sculptures. Twenty-five chambers, large and small, were uncov-
ered in the north-west edifice, every one of them yielding its share of carvings.
Other chambers, where a simple stucco seemed to take the place of the sculp-
tures, were only partially excavated.
At many of the doorways communicating between these chambers, as well
as at what seemed outer gateways, strange figures were found, still keeping
watch on either side of the entrance. Of these portal guardians, called by
the ancient Assyrians ATirwW,"® and, doubtless, allied to the cherubim which,
in Hebrew story, guard the entrance to the garden of Eden, more than a dozen
pairs were found, of various size and composition. Each figure is carved out
of one solid block of alabaster ; the surface of the largest being on one side
two hundred and seventy-two square feet, and of the smallest twenty-five
square feet. These colossal figures seem to have been commenced at the quar-
ries ; since reliefs now in the British Museum, from tTieTUira-trf'SeTrnagHerib's
palace at'TCoyunjik, indicate their transportation. Here we see the figure of
a majestic bull, lying sideways on a sledge,~an5*, again, standing upright, tow-
ering high above the pygmy human beings dragging it to its destination. t
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PORTAL-FIGURES FROM NIMROUD.
83
At Nimroud the ponderous portal guardians, one of which is now in the
British Museum (Fig. 42), sometimes have the body of a lion, with its cruel
claws and angry tail, but the head of a man, perhaps the portrait of Assur-
nazir-pal himself. A horned cap covers this head, delicately shaped ear-rings
hang from the fully human ears, and the long hair and beard are laid in fault-
lessly regular curls. From the shoulders springs a strong wing ; and, over the
chest, feathers lie with the same precision as is seen in the stiflF ringlets. The
girdle about the body of the monster is given with great regard to decorative
Fig. 42. Portal Guardian from MImroud. British Mutoum.
effect, in the peculiar twist of knot and tassels, and finished with extreme
punctiliousness. Sometimes this lion-man monster has arms, and holds in one
an animal, and in the other a blossom. Usually these figures look outward to
all approaching the gate, but sometimes curiously twist their heads to the side,
and gaze at each other from across the passage. Very often they have, instead
of the body of a lion, that of a bull, — an instance of which is to be seen in the
British Museum. In that case the ears are large and ox-shaped, and the band
around the belly is lacking. Throughout the details of hair, feathers, and
muscles in these bull-formed figures, there is the same primness met with in
the lions. Before one small building at Nimroud, as a great excepdi
84 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA,
portal guardians were found to have the forms of pure lions (Fig. 43)^ Their
threatening jaws and defiant attitude must, indeed, have inspired awe in those
who sought to enter the gate ; since, even as one of these figures now stands in
the dim gfray of the British Museum, its tremendous form, intense action, and
yawning jaws, suffice to send a shudder over the beholder, and seem a fit sym-
bol of a powerful watch before the dwelling of an Oriental monarch or god.
( The stately forms of the composite monsters standing at the gates do not,
like these lions, explain themselves, or hint to us the intention of the ancient
sculptor. Nor do their inscriptions teach us their significance ; although from
other sources it may be gathered, that the adoration of the forces of nature
lies at the root of this symbolism, which, from the prominent part it has played
in the art of other countries, has given a lively interest to these Assyrian mon-
sters. The visions in the first and tenth chapters of Ezekiel seem to have
been written in vivid remembrance of such man, lion, ox, and eagle monsters.
As the symbols of the four evangelists, these elements play an important
part in Christian art. In similar manner, the horns with which the ancient
Chaldaeans and Assyrians decorated their sacred cap re-appear in the Hebrew
Scriptures as the emblems of power ; and, even to-day, the peasant in Mesopo-
tamia ascribes to them such virtue, that he puts up a horned skull iiL his fields
to make them productive, and hangs it over his door to ward off evilJ
/^The union of sculpture in the round and very low relief is most character-
istic in these Nimroud portal-figures. The whole of the head and the strong
paws are carved almost fully in the round ; but the wings cling closely to the
background, filling up the space not already occupied by the arrow-head inscrip-
tions, those stereotyped formulas continually repeated with little variation in
Assur-nazir-pal's sculptures. Thus, while low relief seems to be well rendered,
there is a marked absence of all genuine high relief, the combinations oflFered
being any thing but agreeable. To one approaching the gate, the older figures
at Nimroud seem to stand motionless, with their front paws firmly set together ;
but, on passing within, they appear to be walking out vigorously. This strange
impression is produced by giving them five legs, — three on the side, and two in
front. This desire to represent the winged beast differently from the two
points of view is, however, wanting in the later sculptures at Nimroud and
Nineveh, where the legs have the natural number, four, j
Sometimes the doorway, instead of being guarded by these statue-like mon-
sters, was simply faced with thin slabs of alabaster, in which, sculptured in very
low relief, strange symbolical beings appeared. In the north-west building, this
low relief was continued around the walls, lining many chambers and courts.^
The museums of Berlin and London are abundantly supplied with specimens of
this sculpture : over one hundred and eighty-three meters of it are in diflFerent
institutions in the United States, and still more was left on the spot where it
was found."' I
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PORTAL RELIEFS FROM NIMROUD. 85
For this work at Nimroud, large, thin slabs were placed upright against the
Is, first having been inscribed on the back with the name, title, and descent
of the king Assur-nazir-pal. Iron, copper, and sometimes wooden clamps, held
the slabs together ; and, after they were securely in place, the sculptor com-
menced his work. In one of the buildings at Nimroud, two slabs were found
in place, although unsculpturedJ
[What principle guided the sculptor in the distribution of his subjects in the
older palaces of Nimroud, we do not know. At the entrance to one of the
small buildings, a composition unique in Assyrian sculpture, but calling to mind
Fig. 43, Portal Lion from Nimroud. British Museum.
scenes on Babylonian cylinders, was repeated on each side of the doorway.
One of these groups is now in the British Museum (Fig. 44), and represents a
colossal bearded being, having four outspread wings, and wearing the horned
cap. He pursues a terrible monster, and brandishes forked lightnings, held in
either hand. The monster, part lion, and part bird of prey with terrible talons,
turns and yawns fiercely on his pursuer, making up a most spirited composition
for a religious scene. Near these groups the large form of the fish-god was
also discovered, but, like the former, points for its origin back to a mythical
genius older than Assyrian art.y
In the greater part of these older Nimroud reliefs, the living monarch,
Assur-nazir-pal himself, is the centre of thought and action, always distin-
guished by his more elaborate dress, and pointed tiara bound around, with jdck'
86 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
bands, which fall behind the back. He is attended by bearded officers of state,
who stand before him with hands humbly folded ; or by beardless eunuchs, who
protect him with umbrella or fly-fan raised above his head. The costume of
this king varies from that of later times ; his tiara being lower and less pointed,
and his garments simpler. Sometimes he appears engaged in war : he attacks
a fortress ; fights in his chariot, protected by the symbol of divinity floating in
mid-air above him, or receives prisoners. Again, he is engaged in the hunt, or
receives wine at the hands of his attendants. But there is no trace of por-
traiture in the features ; king, humble attendant, and winged god, all being
repetitions of the same type.
Although many of these scenes from daily life are interesting, as throwing
light on the customs of ancient Nimroud, still none are so characteristic of its
art as others representing religious ceremonies in which the king constantly
takes part, and which are repeated with incredible monotony. In one cham-
ber, for instance, the king was repeated all around the walls, holding up a cup
in one hand, and a bow in the other. Attending him were two equal-sized
figures, wearing garlands of rosettes, and having wings, but otherwise thor-
oughly human.'" Around another room were repeated colossal winged figures,
wearing horned caps, and carrying mystic symbols, — a square basket, a fir-cone,
or a necklace (Fig. 45). These beings stand facing a conventionally arranged
combination of palm and fir, the "sacred tree," a most important feature
in these religious services, the exact significance of which is, however, not
clear.'23 Some of these figures, if we may judge from the long hair, peculiar
robe, and elaborate necklace, seem to be intended for goddesses ; although the
absence of breasts, and the masculine type of the face, do not support this
view : nor do inscriptions give us the name.
Besides such gigantic figures which, in regular array, cover the surface of
the large slabs, there was^ound in the North-west Palace a long, narrow apart-
ment, where two rows of similar but smaller subjects decorated the walls.
Above, in wearisome repetition, two horn-capped, winged forms knelt on either
side of the tree ; and, below, two eagle-headed, winged monsters appeared, like-
wise worshipping the ever-recurring tree. What these strange beings repre-
sent is enigmatical. It is possible that some represent deity itself, and others
priests clad in robes of offic9l
\ As artistic compositions, these figures from Nimroud are tedious beyond
degree ; but, on close examination, their details offer much that is curious.
Combined with a gross and extravagant rendering of the form, we find a most
astonishing tendency to run into ornamentation. The muscles and joints curve
according to decorative lines : no stray lock ventures to flutter out of its
regular place, no feather to encroach on its fellow. Gracefully shaped neck-
laces, ending sometimes in a pomegranate, and calling to mind the descriptions
of the adornments of the Jewish high-priest, clasp nearly every throat. Ear-
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DESIGNS ON GARMENTS.
87
rings of varied and pleasing shape drop from every ear; and bracelets bind
wrist and upper arm of king, attendant, and winged mystic figure.
Still more interesting, perhaps, than these ornaments, witnesses to the gold-
smith's skill, are the trimmings of the garments. The elaborately wrought-
out fringes suggest a passion for this adornment quite equal to that encouraged
by modern fashion, but yield in artistic interest to the designs scratched with
great freedom into the borders, doubtless imitating embroidery of actual ap-
parel. These designs are to be seen all around the garment, and, in the case
of the king, even over the breast. The most casual observer of these details
on Assur-nazir-pal's robes, ste they are to be seen on the slabs at Dartmouth
Fig. 44. Conflict between a God and Demon. NImroud. British Museum,
College, N.H., and in the British Museum, may descry the elements out of
which must have grown those borders which decorated Greek temple, vase,
and utensil in a far nobler, more homogeneous form. Thus, as a clear proto-
type of the so-called Greek honeysuckle ornament, may be seen on these
Assyrian robes a tuft of spreading palm-leaves or full-blossomed lotos, alter-
nating often with a closed bud. A pleasing decorative effect is here produced ;
but the elements of which it is composed are not gracefully veiled to our eyes,
as in the ideal Greek productions. Sometimes these plant-ornaments alternate
with deer, fallen on their knees before the sacred symbol ; again, birds seem to
spread their wings before it, strange composite monsters occasionally taking
their places.
Of even greater interest than these scenes is the one design in which a
Digitized by
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v^oogle
88 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA,
winged figure in horned cap holds two dangling deer, and has the same pose
that is given to a female figure, constantly recurring on very old Greek orna-
ments and vases, such as have been found especially in Rhodes. In many
cases these bits of Assyrian embroidery seem to open up a glimpse into the
passage of art-forms from the farK)ff Tigris valley to the Hellenic world. «*4
These broidered borders on the figures from Nimroud, dating from about
885 B.C., are far richer than those discovered in later Assyrian ruins. In the
latter the love of elaborate and profuse decoration continues ; but the interest-
ing combinations of man, beast, bird, and flower disappear, and are supplanted
by a profusion of rosettes, circles, and squares, covering the whole surface of
the dress, conjectured by Semper to imitate woven and no longer embroidered
materials. "5
If, to all this detail, we add the colors which once made these sculptures
brilliant,^e can easily imagine the effect produced, like a vast tapestry linings
the apartments of the palace. The sandals were painted red or black ; the
hair, lips, eyes, and ornaments, and probably the borders also, received color ;
but there is no sign that the whole surface was thus covered : and the mild,
natural tones of the alabaster, with the gentle shadows of the sculpture, must
have blended in a pleasing decorative effect.
But the artist has cut across the whole length of his highly finished work
the never-failing inscription, which, added to the character of the sculptures^
shows that decoration was secondary, and that his main object was the recount-
ing in pictures the greatness and glory of the monarch. Provided this chroni-
cle were clear, the artist does not seem to have cared to go farther, — granted
that he were capable of any thing higher.
Besides these chronicle and decorative sculptures, one small statue of the
king in silicious stone was found, which is now in the British Museum. This
form is worked out fully in the round, deep fringes and drapery encircling its
back ; and yet, when seen from the side, the flattened look of this figure leaves
the impression of nothing more than high relief, and fails to satisfy any of the
requirements of statuary proper.
Of no slight importance for the history of art are fragments of bronze front
Nimroud, some of which show that casting was known in ancient Assyria.
Such is a part of a leg and hoof cast around a kernel of iron, and now in the
British Museum. Bowls with most curious designs of a mixed Egyptian and
Assyrian character, and bronze weights in the form of crouching lions, bear-
ing Assyrian and Phoenician inscriptions, as well as ivory carvings, having an
Egyptian cast, were also found. All these latter have, however, a character so
foreign to the sculpture on the slabs, that their appearance in the heart of
Assyria has given rise to much conjecture ; but, as it is now agreed that they
are imported Phoenician wares, their artistic character will be discussed whea
treating of Phoenician art.
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GATES FROM BALAWAT.
89
About fifteen miles east of Mosul, in the mound called Balawat, those re-
markable plates of bronze were found, which, known as the *' Gates of Balawat,"
are now in the British Museum. '^^ These bronze plates, beaten out to repre-
sent scenes from the life of Shalmaneser II., who reigned between 859 and 825
B.C., show us the battles, triumphs, cruelties, and devotions of this king, in mul-
titudinous small figures. All these are accompanied by explanatory inscrip-
tions, so badly crowded together, and careless in work, as to seem intended
more for ornament than reading. One of the most interesting scenes is that
where a sculptor, with hammer and chisel, is carving the image of the king in
Fig. 46. Mystic Figures before the "Sacred Tree." From Nimroud. British Museum.
the rock, while another stands by to direct. The inscription reads, " From the
sources of the river Tigris I descended, victims to the gods I sacrificed, an
image of my majesty I caused to be set up." Here we have a valuable explana-
tion of figures, sculptured as triumphal monuments on the mountain sides of
Koordistan, and found even as far as remote Syria, at the mouth of the Nahr-
el-kelb, near Beyrout.
The chief significance of these gates, however, lies in the principle of in-
crustation they embody. Their bronze bands were merely coverings, which ran
at intervals across the wooden surfaces of two enormous folding-doors, thus at
once hiding and ornamenting the wood. The stone sculptures in Assyria are
often slavish imitations of such incrustation in metal. On a fragmentary obelisk
of white calcareous stone, now in the British Museum, according to the inscrip-
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90 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
tion, executed for Assur-nazir-pal, and decorated with his exploits, the stone
carving is most clearly an imitation of metal. Thus the figures, as a chariot
and its horses, are bent right around the corner of the obelisk, after the manner
of a pliable metal relief, but out of keeping with the nature of stone carving.
That not only parts of buildings were incrusted with metal, but, likewise,
figures of the gods, appears from an historical tablet of Tiglath Pileser II.
(about 745 B.C.), discovered at Nimroud, in which he says, "And figures carved
in the likeness of the great gods I made, and they inspired reverence. Coats
of Karri gold, silver, and copper I covered over them. I beautified their work-
manship ; " but, of course, figures so tempting to the avarice of man have not
been preserved.
This practice of covering a cheaper material with metal we meet later. It
was continued by the Phoenicians in the construction of Solomon's temple,
and handed on to the Greeks, to play an important part in their glorious art.
On a fertile plain eighteen kilometers north-east from Mosul at^Khorsabad,
Assyrian sculptures were discovered, in many respects different from the older
monuments at Nimroud.J Khorsabad was first excavated by the French consul,
•^Botta, in 1848 ; but the work was completed with rare thoroughness by Place in
1864. In these mounds was laid bare the work of Sargon, a usurper, who, after
fifteen years of conquest and bloodshed, here built his palace and city between
711 and 705 B.C. He himself in extant monuments tells his story. "At the
foot of Mount Mousri, in order to take the place of Nineveh, I made, according
to divine will, and desire of my heart, a city which I called Hisix^argonJ I have
constructed it that it may resemble Nineveh, and the gods who reign in Meso-
potamia have blessed the splendid walls and the superb streets of this city.
In order to call thither inhabitants to inaugurate the temple and th5 palace
where is enthroned my majesty, I have chosen the name, I have traced the
enclosure, I have named it after my name.""7
Here, on the plain stretching away to the Tigris, within a mile of hilly sum-
mits, human hands have piled up at Sargon's behest 1,350,000 cubic meters of
clay, kneaded like that so vividly described by the prophet Nahum. So vast is
this mound, that we hardly know which most awakens wonder, — the number of
hands required to toil in its erection, or the strange phenomenon of an artificial
hill, raised in close proximity to mountains where not only rock abounded, but
many a summit offered itself suitable for the site of a new capital. On this
hill of clay was found, spread out in vast proportions, Sargon's royal residence,
besides a small building, from its general disposition supposed to be a throne-
room or audience-hall, and, to the south, one of those solid terraced pyramids of
sun-dried brick, built in stages of diminishing circumference, and doubtless
serving, as in Chaldaea, for religious purposes. It seems to have had seven
stages, corresponding to the seven heavenly bodies, — the sun, moon, and five
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
RUINS AT KHORSABAD. 9 1
planets, — whose holy number was worshipped from a similar pyramid at Ecba-
tana, and from others in Chaldaea. Four of these stories alone remained at
Khorsabad, each of them 6.10 meters (20 feet) in height. These were found
to have been painted in different colors on a layer of stucco ; the varied hues,
doubtless, having been emblematical of the celestial bodies. From the sum-
mit of this gay pyramid, thus raised more than 24 meters (80 feet) above the
plain, it is probable that astronomical observations were made, for the priests
were astronomers as well ; the religious systems of ancient Chaldaea, and its
daughter land, Assyria, having been thoroughly interpenetrated with the wor-
ship of the heavenly bodies, and especially the stars. There can be no doubt
that these pyramids were looked upon as sacred buildings, — no other struc-
tures having been found corresponding to temples, — and that their summits
were crowned by small shrines or altars, which may have had sacred images.
In art character these Assyrian temples fall infinitely short of the structures
raised to their gods by both Egyptians and Greeks.
Turning from this ancient tower of Babel ("gate of God"), to the royal
palace itself, we find that fourteen grand halls and many smaller apartments,
covering four hectares (nearly ten acres) of land, and connected by numerous
doorways, united to form the Seraglio, the smaller ones, doubtless, occupied by
the monarch himself and his immediate attendants, and the larger correspond-
ing to state apartments of modern palaces.
At the southern comer of the building we come upon a whole complex of
courts and rooms, the safe retreat of Sargon's wives and children. Spacious
and gorgeously decorated courts within this harem offered pleasure-grounds
for their ladyships ; but only two exits communicated with the outer world, and
these well guarded.by small chambers, doubtless for attendant eunuchs. A vast
court formed the core of the remaining part of the palace. On the side towards
the harem were storehouses, as was evident from their build, and their con-
tents when discovered. On the other side were stables, kitchens, and outbuild-
ings of various kinds. Numerous passages piercing the walls connected the
two parts of the palace.
At the foot of this regal dwelling M. Place found Sargon's city, surrounded
by high walls furnished with towers. Place calculated that the walls originally
towered up twenty-three meters, a height greater than that of houses facing
modem city avenues, and had a still greater width (twenty-four meters). Pier-
cing them were three ornamental gateways, and four of less ambitious finish,
but all so spacious and complex in build as to call to mind the importance of
the city-gate in the story of Abraham and of Boaz and Ruth."^
All these walls, whether of palace or surrounding the city, and varying
from two to twenty-four meters in thickness, were built of sun-dried brick.
Kiln-baked brick, indeed, made the vaulted ceilings, and covered the floors ;
but otherwise the stmctures were all of this cmmbling, crude material. Being
Digitized by V^OOQIC
92 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA,
thus perishable, as well as uncomely, the clay was not left exposed; but,
throughout the vast buildings, a lining was found to cover the walls from top to
bottom. In many parts, as in the ladies' retired apartments, as well as in the
magazines, stables, and kitchens, subject to hard usage, a simple stucco made
of lime was applied for this purpose, such as is still used in the Orient. Some-
times, as in the bed-chambers of the harem, the stucco was painted with ara-
bei$ques, animals, and human beings.
\But the gates, frequented by crowds, and where royalty passed in and out,
as well as the state apartments, where daily was to be seen the pomp of a great
sovereign, required other and more durable decoration. As at Nimroud, so
here were, consequently, placed alabaster monoliths of colossal size ; while slabs
of alabaster, but twenty centimeters thick, lined the royal courts and chambers
to the height of three meters. Above them, tJie wall and vaulted ceiling were
hidden by enamelled brick and painted stucco/
l^*eing of so soft a material, these monoliths and slabs offered a tempting
field for the sculptor in displaying the deeds of a powerful monarch. It is not
strange, then, that twenty-six pairs of portal-bulls, each weighing 140,000 kilo-
grammes (over 3,000 cwt.), were found at various gateways, and that 6,000
--square meters of relief lined the palace. All this magnificence was, moreover,
*ihe work of less than six years; for Sargon commenced building his city 711
B.C., and died 705 B.C. His son, Sennacherib, not occupying the palace, the
neglected building must soon have crumbled to a hopeless ruin, and the sculp-
tures have only been preserved by the fallen clay masses. A part of these
sculptures may now be seen in the Louvre and the British Museum ; a part
— teive long since dissolved in the Tigris, where they sank m a storm during
reiftoval ; and still more remain among the ruins at Khorsabad)
\What principle guided the sculptor at Khorsabad in adorning some gate-
ways with bulls, while he simply ran sculptured slabs around others, is not in
every case clear ; although, with regard to the city gates, it is evident that
those where horses and chariots passed in and out were finished in the simpler
manner. )
;<lne of these ornamented gates, according to the inscription, the "gate of
the south," was found by M. Place intact, its discovery throwing a flood of light
• upon Assyrian sculpture in its relation to architecture. On either side of the
doorway stood, like sentinels, human-headed bulls, facing the stranger approach-
ing the city (Fig. 46) ; and within winged genii adorned each side of the pas-
sage. The. arch above appeared to spring from the mitred heads of the bulls,
and the heavy clay vault to ride on their outstretched wings and the heads of
their strange winged companions. The latter, while following the movement
of the bulls, turned full front face to one passing through the gateway. Bril-
liantly enamelled bricks, in which yellow and blue predominated, faced this arch,
and represented winged beings holding cones alternating with rosettes. But
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
PORTAI^FIGURES AT KHORSABAD.
93
in reality these bulls and winged beings did not bear the arch above, which
was carried by the immensely thick wall against which these forms were ad-
justed merely as decoration. Owing to the addition of a fifth leg, as at Nim^-
roud, these bulls from the side seemed most inappropriately to be walking out
from under their load, while from the front they seemed standing motionless.
These portal-figures at Khorsabad are less varied than those at Nimroud, and
were conjectured by M. Place to be portraits of Sargon himself. But recent--
study of the language has shown that the colossal lions at the entrance of the
royal palaces represent the god Nergal, " whose non-Semitic name, Ni-eru-gal,
cb^acterizes him as the governor of the great city or the empire of death." "9^
The main difference between these bulls at Khorsabad and the older ones at^^
Nimroud is their far greater size, their
horned tiaras being likewise taller
and more imposing. We are not a
little surprised to find, that from the
pointed bovine ears are suspended ear-
rings of graceful shape. The carefully
scrolled mustache and ringlets, the
symmetrical plumage, and amusingly
regular veins and muscles of these
^^.jiandy-bulls, witness throughout to
the ruling passion of the Assyrian
sculptor to reduce every detail, how-
ever incongruously, to ornament^
These huge city guardians at the
"gate of the south" were found by
Place without a feather broken. Color
_^-8titl shone freshly on eyes and eye-
brows, which were pencilled with
black, giving a calm expression of life. Could we imagine them once more
standing beneath the gayly-colored arches, and surrounded by all the gaudy
splendor of Oriental royalty, then we should be better able to conceive the
true impression of these emphatically decorative sculptures. Several of the
palace-gates were even more luxuriously decorated by the combination of foui^"
bulls (Fig. 47). Where, as in the outer wall of the palace, facing the city, and
in one of its great courts, these gates were near together, a colossal bearded
being (perhaps Izdhubar) filled up the space between the haunches of the outer
bulls, his face and shoulders looking out in full front view, but his feet stand-
ing in profile. Although holding in his suffocating grasp a struggling lion,
Izdhubar's hair, beard, drapery, and ear-rings are faultlessly regular. ''
Before the doorways of the harem, which were faced with brilliantly enam-
elled bricky statues were found, apparently taking the place of bulls. Of these
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
F\g. 46. Gate of th« South in the City-waH at Khorsabad,
94 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
statues eight were discovered, heavy in composition and execution, but were all
lost in the Tigris. Arms holding a vase were attached to the body, the feet
were completely covered by the cumbrous garment around them, and hair fell
from the mitred head in so shapeless a mass as to blot out the lines of neck
and shoulder. '30 It is possible that the fragile alabaster may be somewhat
responsible for the lack of the statuesque in these figures; and yet the
same failings are apparent in a seated figure of much harder stone from
Kalah-Shergat, to be seen in the British Museum : a great contrast to the
severely sculptural character of Egyptian statuary is here to be noticed.
One curious feature of portal decoration in the harem was a colossal imita-
tion of a palm-tree, consisting of wood incrusted with bronze. A piece of
cedar-wood nine meters long, and as large around as a man's body, was found
sheathed in bits of bronze, which overlapped like the sheaths of a palm-tree ;
and a fragment of gold discovered near by, which is now in the Louvre, indi-
cates a costly gilding. Here we have another witness, like the Balawat gates,
to the use of metal incrustation in Assyria.
In the interior of the Seraglio continuous reliefs, as at Nimroud, adorned
the walls, which, if placed in a line, would have extended for two kilometers ;
but their inscriptions, milike those of the earlier sculptures, were banished to
the back of the slabs. (Numerous terra-cottas, resembling an arm and a closed
^Jiand, were discovered, a few of them still remaining in the wall. These M.
Place conjectured to have been arranged along the top of the slabs, so as to
^^ve the effect of hands holding them in place, as we may imagine hands hold-
ing carpets. George Smith, however, believed these hands to be simply talis-
..mans against evil. It is possible that both ideas may have been united by this
people, so prone to turn the forms of their religious art into decoration. It has
with much reason been conjectured, that these sculptured slabs themselves
were a development out of those embroidered and woven hangings which
served as protection and decoration of the walls in ancient Babylon; and
hence tljese alabaster reliefs have been graphically called "petrified hang-
ings,"'aO
rrhe whole idea of the reliefs of the palace, to use Place's fine figure, is that
of an epic celebrating the glories of the monarch buildery As in written poems
the epic opens with an invocation to superior beings r so here sacred effigies
occupy the threshold, after which the narrative proceeds with true Oriental
garrulousness, flattering to the prince and people.
The scenes on first entering were devoted to royal pomp. In the larger
courts, one of which was lined with one hundred and twenty meters of relief,
the colossal king and attendants, towering up nine feet to the top of the slabs,
walk in single file. (JLike the portal figures, these reliefs, when compared with
the smaller, more delicately finished work at Nimroud, show a growing taste
^'^ for immensity and imposing size. ; The terrible Sargon in elaborate robes
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
RELIEFS AT KHORSABAD.
95
continually re-appears, calmly receiving the homage of his subjects, who follow
one another with the stolid dignity of royal receptions in the Orient of to-day.
One attendant holds over the monarch a fan : another bears his weapons. The
figures in front stand with folded hands ; and vase-bearers hold their vessels on
the tips of thumb and fingers, with the affected dignity of modern Orientals.
When the king is performing sacred rites, his assistants are winged figures
with horned caps ; but the religious element in Khorsabad is far less pronounced
than at Nimroud.
Quite different scenes cover the walls of the ^mailer chambers. We see
depicted battle and hunting scenes in double, treble, and sometimes fourfold,
rows of reliefs, in which large numbers of small figures of various nationalities
are represented in much the same style as in those at Nimroud (Fig. 48)) In
these scenes the history is clearly a one-sided national glorification. So anxious
is the sculptor to impress us with the invincible prowess of the Assyrians, that
be never allows us the fascination of uncertainty in watching a @^dly conflict.
Ffg, 47. PcUact Qattiuay. Khortabad.
or gives us a gleam of hope for the enemy. Prisoners are being carried off,
and booty is being appropriated. Spreading out before us inhuman tortures,
now the victor impales the victims before our eyes ; now holds up their ghastly
heads, or gives their bodies as carrion to vultures. On one slab we see Sargon
holding two prisoners by cords hooked into their lips, calling to mind the
threat made to Pharaoh (Ezek xxix. 4), " I will put hooks into thy jaws." And
yet all this is done in carvings which show such guileless ignorance of per-
spective, and such gross faults in drawing and composition, that what was
intended to be horrible becomes rather amusing.
/it is refreshing to turn from these battle-scenes to those more attractive
^-tJfies in which Sargon, "a mighty hunter," like Nimrod of old, frees the land
from dangerous beasts. How great the passion of the Assyrian monarchs for
the hunt appears from an inscription in which Tiglath Pileser tells us, that one
hundred and twenty lions were slain by him on foot, and that eight hundred
more fell before his weapons, as he and his men rode in their chariots. These
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
96 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
representations of animals on the slabs are admirable. The horses and lions
^'^e better drawn than those of Nimroud, and show a keen eye for nature in
the sculptor. I
Besides these, we see on the walls convivial scenes. Eunuchs dip wine
out of graceful basins with still more graceful vases, ending in lions* heads,
and pass the beverage to feasters seated on elaborate thrones.
As at Nimroud, these sculptures were touched up with (^olor^ the back-
ground and nude being left the natural tone ; but the hair and features, the
jewels, weapons, and sandals, received H)lack, red, and blueias the case required.
Much of the color faded on exposure, but was brilliant when first discovered.
How graphic now seems the description of these images by Ezekiel, as por-
trayed on the walls with vermilion, girded with girdles, and altogether too
seductive for his own people, the Hebrews !
The |ast period of Assyrian histor^ included the reigns of several powerful
monarchs, — Sargon's son Sennacherib ^yos-SSi B.C.), who was followed by
Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), Assur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), and Assur-ebil-ili
(625-605 B.C.),) — each of whom was a builder, and consequently a patron of
the sculptor's art. At the close of this brilliant century, Assyria's power
succumbed to that of its younger, more vigorous rival, Persia. Nineveh, the
capital, was now completely destroyed ; and its palaces, consumed by fire, were
left to rapid decay.
The ruins which harbor the principal monuments of this last period in
Assyria were found at Koyunjik, opposite modern Mosul, and at Nimroud. On
the former site, that of ancient Nineveh, were spread out the regal structures
of Sennacherib and his grandson, Assur-bani-pal. At Nimroud were the palace
of Esarhaddon, adorned with sculptures from an older building by Tiglath
Pileser ; and the unpretending palace of Assur-ebil-ili, the last-known Assyrian
monument.
From all these buildings, excavated at different times by Layard, Rawlinson,
Rassam, and Smith, many sculptures have been removed, and are now in the
British Museum. Those from Koyunjik, ancient Nineveh, showed the wasting
efifects of fire ; many slabs having reached England in three or four hundred
fragments, which were afterwards re-adjusted. The material of these later
monuments continues, in Sennacherib's buildings, to be coarse, soft alabaster ;
but in the palace of Assur-bani-pal it is supplanted by a hard limestone, in
which, on account of its compact grain, sculptural details could be more vigor-
ously expressed.
While in general the subjects treated remain about the same, — the pomp,
wars, victories, chase, and religious services of the king, always burdening the
sculptor's fancy, — still, within this range, acceptable variations are introduced,
and.A-iiyelier, more elegant form of recounting history is evident. ^ In Sen-
Digitized by vioOg IC
RELIEFS FROM ASSUR-BANI-PAL'S PALACE.
97
nacherib's palace, for instance, we see building going on ; colossal bulls being
transported ; high-stepping horses, the pride of the royal equerry, so full of
mettle as scarcely to be held by their diminutive hostlers. There is, moreoverr-
(a nearer approach to nature than in the sculptures of the older time. The-
ponderous portal figure is seen no longer with five legs, but walks on four. In
relief, the solemn procession in single file disappears : the simple arrangement
of the battle-scenes in tiers yields to more complicated and elaborate composi-
tions, in which hundreds of small but energetic figures cover the whole slab,
marching, fighting, or attackmg fortresses. J Details of river, mountain, bush,
or morass are also added to make the story clearer. Were it not for the stiff
and faulty drawing, our sympathies might be aroused for the lands and people
overrun by these multitudes. But in looking at the human figures, whether
king, common soldier, or wounded prisoner, we find that the sculptor has gone
Fig 48. Battl9'9Ctn9 from Nimroud
tut little beyond his predecessors, '^he same lackjjf-true movement is evident, '
and the same conventional rendering of muscles and the nude, which seem
a reminiscence rather than a reproduction of life/ It is possible that this
summariness of treatment should be laid at the door of the workmen, who only
carried out their master's designs. In a fragmentary clay relief, representing
the king in combat with a lion, now in the British Museum, we seem to have
an original from a master-hand. In it the arms and legs of the king are rep-
resented with a keen sense of nature, and startling freshness of observation.
And yet this same relief shows the old traditional rendering of the drapery,
hiding and not following the form.
^Tn Aii'^ir-^a"'-pa^N p^^^^^ we meet the king, lounging under a bower of
vines, attended by servants, and a figure conjectured to be his wife, which, if
true, is the only case of the representation of an Assyrian lady. '3" Nothing,
however, in form or feature, shows conclusively that this is a female figure.
The monarch seems to be enjoying his festive cup, in spite of the ghastly heads
dangling from the branches above. This relief is another striking illustration
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
98 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
of the subordination of every thing else to ornament. The garments are richly-
embroidered ; and over the king is thrown a costly spread, from which dangle
heavy tassels. The laden table, or altar, and the cone-shaped object, are those
occurring in scenes of a religious character, and seem to indicate that the
sculptor tried to represent some solemn ceremony. The rich orimmental de-
tails seen on the figures extend to the lounge and other objects. (The legs of
'Tfte couch rest on crouching lions, facing outwards ; lions in pairs leap at each
other along the whole front of the lower support of the lounge ; above, strange
half-figures, separated by a cone, are apparently inlaid into the upper part, all
doubtless imitations of ivory and metal incrustations in use in the furniture of
Assyrian palaces.^
And yet, with all this enthusiasm for ornament, there is little progress in
Fig. 49. Heaa of an Assyrian Chariot-horse, from Assur-banl-pai's Palac: Koyunjik. British Museum.
the human forms. The braceleted hand is no more correctly drawn than in
older sculptures. The lying figure is drowned in the flood of meaningless
stuffs. The draped forms of the attendants, who hold over the feasters the
usual fan, are expressed with no truer rendering of nature than in older carv-
ings.
^ But these (later sculptures are unsurpassed in their representations of the
brute creation|as may be seen in the slabs in the British Museum. The angry
steeds attached to Assur-bani-pal's chariot, with ears laid back, distended jaws,
and protruding eye-sockets, are given in admirable profile, and show us the
horse to have been a familiar and favorite object in Assyrian art, in that re-
spect strongly contrasted to the art of Egypt (Fig. 49). A group from Assur-
Jjani-pal's hunting series shows with what power the sculptor gave the canine
form (Fig. 50). The keeper can hardly hold these fierce brutes, whose well-
shaped heads and strong forms are strained in the effort to make a vehement
Digitized by V^OOQIC
LIONS IN ASSYRIAN ART.
99
plunge. That dogs of such huge dimensions actually wandered about Assyrian
palaces appears from the impress of a paw, as large as a man's hand, left in
the clay at Khorsabad.
In few groups is the fierceness of these brutes better expressed in a conK^"
pact composition than in that slab from Assur-bani-pal's palace, where a wild
Fig. 60, HunHng-acene, from Koyunjik. British Museum.
ass (Fig. 51) falls under the attack of four of these powerful hunting-dogs^
In the pose, and even the face, of their victim, we see the anguish of the mo-
ment,— a speaking contrast to the fierceness of his persecutors.
f In reliefs with lions, the Assyrian_ap2ears to have reached the acme of his "^
skill; so that the lion has well been called the **hero of Assyrian art." How
faithfully the details of the hunt, and how tragically the animal's fate, are de-
picted on the walls of Assur-bani-pal's palace It We see the beast creep cau-
tiously from the cage, opened by the keeper, in/o the park ; we watch him
Digitized by
}^6V^U
lOO
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
fiercely on the monarch, who, single-handed or from his chariot, now attacks
him ; we see him fall, pierced by many arrows, witness his dying agony, and
finally sjpe the powerful dead form borne away, to be placed at the monarch's
feet, ^hat could surpass such scenes as the one where the enraged lioness,
pierced by the fatal arrows, drags after her her hind-legs, paralyzed by approach-
ing death (Fig. 52^^ or that other where the mitred monarch, before an altar-
like table and sacred cone, pours a libation over his victims of the chase
(Fig. 53) ? The grandeur of the lions' heads, here arranged in perspective
at the feet of the monarch, may challenge the world in vividness of artistic
power. Nothing could be more astonishing, however, than the contrast be-
tween these majestic brute-forms and the figure of the king, in which the
"^sculptor's power is exhausted in the elaboration of ornament, and details of
woven stuffs.
rrhe representation by preference, in Assyria, of these more terrible beasts,
sucn as the snorting war-horse, fierce dog, and fiercer lion, seem, moreover, in
F. Meurtr X. A. Bertm.
Fig. 61. Dogs pulling down a Wild Am. KoyunJIk. British Mustum.
keeping with the character of a people whose art scarcely ever rises above the
expression of brute force, its main interest centring in the doings of a power-
ful brutal people, whose ponderous physiques are given without any shades of
diflference.^ The size and weight of the iron instruments, discovered by Place
in Sargon s palace, which are altogether too heavy for modern natives to wield,
add still another witness to their physical power.
/How great the contrast between this art of Assyria and that of Egypt,
where temple and tomb form the centre ! In Assyria the temple is but an ap-
pendage of the palace : of tombs there are no traces/ Hence the presumption
that the Assyrians buried their dead in some far-off holy land. Such to them
was their parent land, Chaldaea, where immense fields of the dead, still unex-
plored, stretch far out into the desert. The tenacity of the Oriental to such
sacred customs is vividly illustrated by the caravans, still to be seen, year after
year, laden with bones of rich and poor, passing even from the remoter north-
em provinces of Persia, to far-off Kurbela, in Southern Mesopotamia, for burial.
/Livi
Living royalty, doubtless possessing much of a religious character,
Digitized by
\S5t5^e
CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE.
lOI
all-absorbing theme of the Assyrian sculptor, not, however, expressed in stu'^
pendous and eternal statues, or in an intemperate spreading of relief all over
the vast surfaces of the temples, but in slabs of medium size, more or less
directly imitations of carpet-hangings, j This modest size prevented the As-
syrian sculptor from some of the discrepancies of Egyptian art. He was
not tempted to give his monarch the disproportionate size of the Pharaoh in
Egyptian reliefs, where the huge chief, Gulliver-like, overshadows his Lilipu-
tian followers, and thus renders harmony in composition an impossibility.
But, on the other hand, how unworthy of the prominence it received in Assyria,
rig, 62s Dying Lioness.
was all this elaboration of stone embroidery, — these fringes, borders, and
scrupulous toilettes, — especially as attended by neglect of the human fornh-
and the reduction of the muscles to an ornamental scheme! In Egypt, onu^
the other hand, the human form was kept pre-eminent, and treated with a
severely sculptural touch.
A certain vigor is, indeed, expressed in Assyrian faces in relief: the eye is
partially given in true profile by deeply cutting in the inner corner ; and the
more natural curve of the upper lid is contrasted to the flat, almond-shaped eye
of Egyptian relief. The chest and shoulders are given a more natural profile ;
but strange blunders are often visible, as in one relief, where the right and left
hand of an archer exchange places.
A striking evidence of the lower level of Assyrian art is the nearly total
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
I02
SCULFrURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
absence of individuality in the faces, especially when compared with the mas-
tery of the animal form. The king is distinguished only by richer robes and
head-dress, the god by his symbolical wings or other emblems, foreigners by
different attire from that of native Assyrians.
^ The chief distinction, however, between Egyptian and Assyrian art, lies in
their style ; that is, their interpretation of natural objects according to gener-
^ized ideal form, which in Egypt is of nobler quality.y With all their natural
gifts, and admirable skill in the representation of aninfals, the chief productions
of the Assyrians are the expressions of a style which required incongruous
combinations of the most foreign elements, awakening a smile of pity for men
Fig, 58. Aaaur-bani'pat pouring out a Libation on Slain Lions. Koyunjik. British Museum.
who could create such puerilities.C "m" the Nile valley, the animals in connec-
tion with the architecture never bear any thing, but, like the grand sphinxes
or lions, recline in dignified repose before the pylons, or, like the sacred
apes, sit around the base of the obelisk, or on the top of the cornice. In As-
syria, on the other hand, the winged bull and yawning lion appear to be carry-
ing a massive arch, even though represented as at the same time walking out
vigorously from under it. Even the sacred sphinx, when transplanted to the
5^igris, is burdened with a pillar. In Egyptian statuary, the lion, like the
famous beasts of the British Museum, from Gebel Barkal (Fig. 26), is nobly
Qpnventionalized in •jil the dignity of ihe Egyptian style. Bold, strong sur-
faces at once emphasize the grand repose of the king of beasts, and express
all the terrible possibilities slumbering in his majestic form ; thus JnipKssing
Digitized by VjOOv iC
EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ART CONTRASTED. IO3
far more than the fierce rage of the Nimroud licms, as seen in their gaping
jaws, threatening teeth, and excited pose (Fig. 43)/
The incredible duration of Egyptian civilization enables us to watch the
•course of its art through numerous stages of rise, progress, decline, and re-
vival, until its final decay. The sculptures of Assyria are, on the other hand,
•of comparatively short duration ; and their great interest for us lies in the fact,
that these elaborate stone embroideries, these graceful ornaments on weapon
and utensil, and these gross but luxurious forms, should communicate their in-
fluence by the channels of trade and conquest to Persia and the distant shores
•of the Mediterranean, influencing the art-forms of coming and more gifted
nations.
Digitized by
Google
CHAPTER VII.
PERSIA.
Historical Sketch. — Ignorance of Early Persian Sculptures. — Remains at Pasargadae. — So-called Cyrus
Tomb. — Remains at Behistan. — Eclectic Character of Persian Art. — Persepolis. — Description
of Ruins. — Relief of King strangling Monster. — Other Reliefs. — Elaborate Representations of
Thrones. — Rock Tombs of Persepolis. — Tomb of Darius. — No Growth after Artaxerxes Ochus. —
Feebleness of Art from Time of Sassanid Rule.
The ancient political life of Central and Western Asia was a changing
drama, in which nations passed through the vicissitudes of conquerors and
conquered, the victors in many cases adopting to a greater or less extent the
art of the conquered people. Assyria overcame Media, only to sink before it ;
and Media in turn fell before the more vigorous sister-people, the Persians,
a hardy mountain race, whose energetic rulers carried their sceptre to remote
parts of the world, and maintained for two centuries and a half an important
place among civilized nations. The deeds of Cyrus (559-529 B.C.) and Cam-
byses (529-521 B.C.), the conquering expeditions of Darius and Xerxes (521-
465 B.C.), sufficiently illustrate the importance of ancient Persia as a political
power during the years of its strength. But although the events of this
history are familiar to us, and brilliant accounts are on record of Ecbatana,
the capital of ancient Media, as well as of Pasargadae, Persepolis, and Susa,.
the great cities of the Persian monarchs, still our knowledge of sculpture in
these lands is but fragmentary. '3a
Of the early steps of this sculpture, we have no witnesses. The ruins of
Ecbatana still await excavation. The most important remains of the later
sculptural art of ancient Persia are the well-known ruins at Pasargadae and
Persepolis, and the relief still to be seen at Behistan, in the mountains of
Koordistan.
In the neighborhood of modern Murghab stand the ruins of Pasargadae, the
home of Cyrus and his powerful house. Here are left standing a few shattered
pillars and a piece of wall, which once were parts of a palace. On this wall
appears a strangely sculptured human figure with four colossal wings, some-
what like those seen in Assyrian carvings (Fig. 54). The head is crowned by
a head-dress, similar to those worn by the Pharaohs of Egypt ; a horn seems ta
twist around the ear ; and a long, fringed garment, like Assyrian robes, drops
104 Digitized by V^OOQ IC
RELIEF AT BEHISTAN.
105
to the feet unbroken by folds. An inscription above the figure reads, " I am
Cyrus the king, the Achaemenid ; *' and it would be possible to refer this strange
figure to that king without hesitation, were it not for the Egyptian head-dress,
the crown of Egypt being first attained by Cyrus's successor, Cambyses. But,
whoever this being represents, we see foreign features, chiefly Assyrian, are
prominent in this earliest known sample of Persian sculpture.
At Behistan, on the great high-road from Babylon, through the Koordish
defiles to the east, is a relief of more developed character.*33 In the precipi-
tous mountain side, and more than fifty meters above the road, this gigantic
relief is carved, seven meters and a half in length, a work of marvellous bold-
ness and difficulty. Here a king treads with one foot on a fallen enemy, and
Fig. 64, Most ancient known Pera/an
Relief. Pasargada.
Fig. 66. King on Throne, with Attendant. Portal Relief.
Pereepolla,
raises his hand towards a row of nine approaching prisoners. Behind him are
two attendants ; and above floats a winged human-headed disk, like that often
seen accompanying Assyrian kings. A rope binds the prisoners together by
their necks, their hands are fastened behind them, and their bent posture gives
them an expression of great distress. Their different nationalities are indicated
by costumes such as are still to be seen in those parts of the Orient. From
the accompanying inscription, we learn that the great renovator of the king-
dom, and re-establisher of the religion of Zoroaster, Darius Hystaspes, here
triumphs over rebels, the most dangerous one, the impostor known in history
as the *' false Smerdis," now lying with outstretched arms under the monarch's
feet. The date of this remarkable sculpture is therefore placed by Rawlinson
at about 516 B.C., when, after quelling rebellions in different parts of his king-
dom, Darius enjoyed a short peace. While, in general, the order and arrange- t
Digitized by V^OOQlC
io6
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
ment remind us of Assyrian reliefs, still we note much in the style of this
sculpture that is different Especially in the garments of the king and attend-
ants, there is an attempt at rendering the folds of full, flowing drapery, which
is well illustrated by a figure from Persepolis (Fig. 55), but is never found in
Assyrian sculpture. Although the hair is carefully curled, and the beard well
laid ; yet that reduction of every detail to ornament, carried in Assyria to an
absurd extreme, has here given place to greater simplicity and naturalness.
It has been questioned whether these excellences are due to a spontaneous
development among the Persians. It is more probable that they are the result
of earlier Greek influence from Asia Minor, and that, as the Persians never
arose above eclecticism in their art, they were greatly influenced by this rapidly
growing Greek art, with which they must have come into close and direct con-
tact after the conquest of Lydia. That Darius copied the Graeco-Lydian coinage
Fig. 66. Ruina of the Palace of Peraepolia.
is a good proof of the influence of Greek culture at this early day upon Persia.
On the mountain-fringed plain of Merdascht are the monuments which
teach us most about the ancient Persian sculptors. There, on a broad plain
of natural rock, once made more complete with masonry, stand the ruined palaces
of Persepolis, now called Takhti-Djemschid, throne of Djemschid, or, sometimes,
Tchihil-minai (forty columns) (Fig. 56). On this plateau, accessible on one
side by a majestic stairway, are still to be seen ruins of stately buildings, all
■constructed during the short but brilliant reigns of Darius and Xerxes.
Ascending the stairway, we should come upon a stately portal structure
__gjLiarded in front by bulls of natural shape, and within by human-headed winged
ones, suggesting at once Assyrian portal-figures, but varying from them in
detail. The wings of the human-headed monster arch upward ; and the front
legs of all project, giving them a more unquiet look than those of Assyria.
Columns with strange sculptured capitals go with these bulls to make up
the entrance to the dwelling of the kings. To the right of this portal lie the
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
MONUMENTS AT PERSEPOLIS.
107
different palaces, large and small, and, still farther on, another fragmentary
bull-portal. In all these palaces, however, we should find that only the
approach by the grand steps, and the passage-ways leading to the interior, were
decorated with sculptures. There is a moderation in the use of sculptural
adornment here which is grateful to the eye, and in better taste than the-
lavishness of Assyrian palaces. Great labor was spent upon the facings of
the double stairway, not, however, appearing in the cut. Guards, arranged in
military order, carry their weapons, as though standing on perpetual watch
at the palace entrance. Bearers of tribute are also seen toiling up the sides
of the steps, or marching along
the wall facing the landings.
They bring with them choice
vases and rings, or lead along
their small horses harnessed to
curiously wheeled chariots. A
fierce combat between a lion
and bull fills up the two corners
of the landing ; and the remain-
der is filled by long blocks of in-
scriptions, well divided off, and
guarded by watchmen in long, at-
tentive rows. It is noteworthy,
that nowhere, as in Assyrian
monuments, do the inscriptions
interfere with the carvings. The
palace-walls, doubtless built of
sun-dried bricks, have long since
gone to ruin ; but the casings of
doors and windows, cut from the
dark rock of the neighboring
mountains, still stand, as well as
many fragmentary pillars with their elaborate capitals. Lining each side of
the doorways, but not continuing beyond them, are sculptural decorations,
in which we find a few scenes continually repeated. At the outer passages,
guards appropriately stand on watch, holding long lances : at other entrances
the king himself is repeated, fighting a lion, a bull, or a scorpion-tailed, eagle-
clawed monster, whom the monarch holds by the hair of the head while plim-'^
ging a short dagger into his entrails (Fig. 57). This composition seems an
enlargement of combats repeatedly seen on small Chaldaean cylinders^; the
details of drapery and head-dress alone being varied to suit the new nationality,
the garments falling in folds approaching nature. Beardless youths appear at
a few entrances, bringing a towel, a square basket, and that conical-shaped
Ftg. 67. King staying Monster. Portal Rslief. PersepoUs,
Digitized by
u-snapea j
io8
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
object figuring so often in Assyrian monuments. Frequently the king is
carved in the passage-way, robed in rich folds, daintily carrying a lotos, and
protected often by two smaller attendants, one holding an elaborate umbrella,
the other a handkerchief or the fly-flap, likewise seen in Assyrian sculptures.
Sometimes the attendant simply carries a lotos-bud (Fig. 55). Usually these
reliefs of the doorways do not cover the surface of the wall, but have a large
vacant space below the strange Egyptian cornice at the top. This partial
application of sculpture is, however, varied by one far more complete at the
^
^\ l)//r. VT'* 'A
M ' ■■ \ -
Fig. 68. Parade of the Tomb of Darlua. Murghab.
four grand entrances of the " Great Hall of Xerxes." Here the whole side is
occupied by a representation of the king on his lofty throne. In one case the
seat rests on the outstretched hands of several tiers of tributary people, rep-
resenting the lands given to the king by the god. In another case the throne-
seat rests on rows of guards in different costumes. These thrones seem derived
from less elaborate ones, met with in Assyrian monuments ; and this motive
of bearing the throne may doubtless be traced back to actual customs in
the Orient, where large hangings were held up by servants around a holy
place during certain ceremonial services. '34 The tenacity of these old cus-
toms is illustrated by a scene which took place in Southampton in 1856. w
Digitized by VjOOQ
DECLINE OF PERSIAN SCULFTURE. IO9
the Queen of Oude visited England. In order to shield her majesty from the
profane gaze of the curious English public, a double row of eunuchs formed,
and, with the immobility of statues, held outstretched gorgeous shawls and
carpets until the ladies had safely passed from their closed carriages. Above
the throne at Persepolis, we see an elaborate tasselled canopy, its front deco-
rated with a straight line of lions and bulls. The human-headed, winged Assyr-
ian disk floats above the king ; but it is clad with the Persian head-dress, — has
become the Persians* Feroher.
In the mountain side at Persepolis are several royal tombs carved into the
rock, their fa9ades decorated in relief with thrones similar to the one described
above. Here, on the tomb of Darius, the king stands, and worships the spirit
of light — Ormuzd — before an altar where fire bums (Fig. 58). This scene, ^
so worthy to appear over the entrance to the tomb, is supported by those
strange sculptured capitals, only met with in Persian architecture, wl^gr^ tw<rr"^
bulls or lions kneel as if forced to bear the weight above them, their fronts
alone protruding from under the heavy weight. Subject-peoples hold up the
platform on which the monarch stands engaged in worship.
Looking at what exists of ancient Persian sculpture, we find, besides these
H5traiige-«apkals, almost nothing which may be called strictly Persian. The
subjects treated by sculptors are strikingly like those in Assyria, although far
less warlike and bloody. It is possible, however, that we know but a small
part of what the Persian sculptor produced, and are, therefore, not justified in
forming a final opinion as to his abilities. After having yielded to influences
from all sides, art seems, at last, to have come to a standstill ; the sculptures
added by Artaxerxes Ochus (362-338 B.C.) being exactly the same as those of
the time of Xerxes, more than a hundred years earlier, as will appear on com-
paring Stolze's plates in Noldeke's " Persepolis."
After the subjection of the Persians to Alexander, their artistic activities
seem to have been exhausted. At a very late date, under the new Sassanid
rule (240 A.D.), Persia regains her political glory, but her numerous sculptures
now carved oi\ mountain side in vast reliefs have lost all nobility : the com-
positions are confused, and the figures excessively mane, reminding one
strongly of the flabby forms of modem Persian painting. The sole interest
for us in these late works is of a purely historical kind, their puerile barbarism
being only an illustration of national and artistic deterioration.
Digitized by
Google
CHAPTER VIII.
PHOSNICIA AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
Phoenicia.— Its Religion. — Goddess Mylitta. — Astarte.— The Phoenicians. — Spread of Trade and
Position in Art. — Kenan's Discoveries. — Imitations of Egypt and Assyria. — Tomb at Amrith.—
Arados Relief.— Phoenician Griffin. — The Minor Arts.— Ivory Relief at Nimroud. — Sites where
Phoenician Wares were Found. — Silver Bowl from Palestrina. — Chiusi Bowl. — Lack of Prog-
ress.— Cyprus. — Occupied by Phoenicians and Greeks. — Influence of Egypt and Assyria. — Min-
gling of Worship of Baal and Astarte with Greek Gods. — Discovery of Remains. — Rudeness of
Material used for Statuary. — Lack of Bronze Figures. — Metallic Bowls. — Silver Bowl in Metro-
politan Museum. — Frequency of Portrait Statues. — Representations of Deity. — Egyptian Types. —
Heracles. — Figure combining Forms of Man, Lion, and Bird. — Frequency of Female Fig-
ures.— Their Character. — Funereal Monuments. — General Character of Cypriote Art. — Cypriote
Type. — Age of Cypriote Statuary.
As Babylonian art with its Assyrian and Persian heirs held sway in the in-
terior of Asia ; so still another and peculiar branch of this hoary brotherhood
appeared in the West, on the shores of the Mediterranean. Here the Phoeni-
cians had their home ; their principal cities, Sidon, Tyre, Byblos, Marathos, and
Arados, rising on promontories jutting out into the sea, or on islands nestling
by the shore. The Phoenicians are thought to have settled in their territory
between Lebanon and the Mediterranean as early as 2SCX) B.C., and, according
to various traditions, were Semitic tribes who had wandered thither from that
home of early civilization, the lowlands bordering the shores of the Persian Gulf.
Their religion seems to have been the offspring of Babylon, but of more
elaborated character. They worshipped a sun-god, whose power was sometimes
destructive, and sometimes beneficent. As Baal Melkart, he was especially
honored in Tyre; through his repeated labors and journeyings, he was sup-
posed to free the world from evil : and the ideal of a wandering hero was devel-
oped, which should doubtless furnish the Greeks with many features, applied
by them to their Heracles.
But, as with most Semitic deities, there was a female half to Baal, evidently
a variation on the Babylonian Mylitta. She was known in different parts by
different names, — Baaltis, Derketo, Atargatis, — and was the goddess of fruit-
fulness, her rites being those of the shocking Mylitta cult of Babylon. Maidens
served her with their bodies ; and the ram, dove, and fish, animals of intense
sexual life and productiveness, were sacred to her. ' Af Hlerap7nis,^he^mtt!L of
RELIGION OF THE PHOENICIANS. Ill
Atargatis had a dove on its head : at Askalon, Derketo was half-female, half-
fish, in her form. Of her many loves, the most celebrated was Tammuz, whom
the Greeks made Adonis. For him, when slain, her Syrian worshippers
mourned with loud wailings ; and, when he lived again, his coming to life was
celebrated with equal excess.
The other side of this goddess's character, standing for the destructive ele-
ments in nature, was worshipped under the name Astarte, a stern virgin, bent
on war, and associated with the moon. To this goddess human offerings were
made ; youths and maidens being sacrificed to her, as they were to her male
counterpart, Moloch. As the Syrians interpreted the worship of the goddess
of fruitfulness according to their conception of her character, by giving full
license to lust ; so they interpreted the contrary character of Astarte, by killing
out all natural feeling, the most acceptable offering to her being emasculation
on the part of her priests and devotees.
Besides uniting thus in one deity these opposite characteristics, in which
sexual and ascetic elements were pronounced, the Phoenicians also combined
in one of their deities the male and female natures in a being of androgy-
nous character. At Carthage, Dido Astarte was to be seen with Melkart's
beard ; and, at certain feasts of Baal, the priests and worshippers of the an-
drogynous god appeared in reddish transparent garments of women; while
the women, in male attire, carried swords and lances. '35 This strange religion,
carried by the Phoenicians wherever they went, was, moreover, mingled with
a most appalling cruelty and bloodshed, altogether strange to the religions of
the Aryan race, as mirrored in its earliest existing sacred books, the Rig-Veda
of the Hindoos in India, and the Avesta of the Parsees in Iran. With such
barbarous concep_tLpns._pf^ their deities on the part of the Phoenicians, it is
not strange that they never succeeded in giving their idols grace and beauty,
and that these always remained hideous symbols.
The land of the Phoenicians was small, a mere ribbon of rock and soil,
girding the base of Lebanon, and washed by the restless sea. Although fer-
tile, this territory was so limited in extent, that the cultivation of the soil
alone could not support the dense and growing population, who were therefore
compelled to resort to commerce, both by sea and land. Phoenician civiliza-
tion became, in consequence, eminently commercial in character, a fact which
is of prime importance in considering the art of this people, especially in its
relations to that of the other nations of antiquity. At first we meet them as
an adventurous fisher-folk, — the name of their oldest city, Sidon, signifying
" fishery," — and see them gathering in the shells lining their coasts, from
which they extracted a liquid of unrivalled brilliancy for dyeing purposes. '35»
But, besides possessing such wealth in the sea, their land was rich in metals and
timber ; its cedars were sought far and wide ; and, at a very early date, we leam
of this people travelling with their wares to distant lands, and bringing back t
Digitized by V^OOQK
112 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
foreign products, to be distributed, in turn, to a still wider public. Babylonia,
Assyria, and Egypt required oil and wine for their population ; metals, skins,
and finely dyed wools, for their home manufacture ; and timber for building
ships, rafts, and even houses. At first the Phoenicians seem to have been the
mediators of this traffic only among the neighboring countries on the Euphra-
tes and Nile ; but in time their trade spread to the coast-lands and islands of
the Mediterranean and Red Seas, as well as of the Indian Ocean. In oldest
Bible story, Abraham has dealings with these ancient barterers, buying of
them his slaves. '3^ At a later day King Solomon built for them caravansaries,
in order to facilitate their wealth-bringing traffic. The laden caravan toiling
across the Syrian desert, between the cities of Mesopotamia and the Phoeni-
cian seacoast, seems to have been no uncommon sight, even before 1600 B.C.,
by which time the weights and measures of Babylon had been adopted by
these Phoenician traders. From the far East, we learn, they brought Baby-
lonian weavings and embroidered garments, as well as fine ointments, frank-
incense, myrrh, and precious stones. '37 For the varied merchandise of Egypt,
— linens, papyrus, glass-wares, cut stones, ornaments, and medicines, — the
Phoenicians likewise found a ready market. How early their Egyptian traffic
commenced, we cannot tell : but Seti I. felled cedars on Lebanon about 1400
B.C. ; and it is probable, that long before, while the Asiatic Hyksos had con-
trol of Egypt, the sea-faring Phoenicians had dealings with the people of the
Nile. As early as iioo B.C. their ships had ventured in the west to Cyprus,
Rhodes, Crete, the Kyclades, and even to the coasts of Greece and Italy.
These crafty sailor-merchants took with them brilliantly dyed stufifs, tempting
articles of personal adornment, as well as figures of their gods ; but the great
staple of their trade was the unhappy slave, whom they obtained either by
strategy or force, thus winning for themselves a most unenviable reputation
among the nations of the Mediterranean. At first their many-oared and
gayly-sailed ships seem to have carried on only an itinerant trade, the wily
tradesmen from afar spreading out on the shores their wares, to tempt the
inhabitants of the seacoasts, or, as the " Odyssey '* tells us, cruising about for
a short time among the Kyclades, driving sharp barter until their cargo was
complete, and then setting sail. '38 But in time, as their commerce increased,
permanent trading-stations and industrial centres were doubtless required,
which should serve as corresponding houses with the Phoenician cities, and
as a protection to their growing trade. Out of these colonies, which sprang
up especially where mines were to be worked, and shells were to be found,
there sometimes grew cities like Carthage, which retained the distinctive
character of the mother-land, and vied with it in importance. Such Phoenician
settlements existed in Cyprus, Melos, Thera, Samothrake, and Euboia ; and on
the mainland of Greece, Thebes, Corinth, Marathon, and many other places,
had intimate connection with this ancient Semitic people.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
MONGREL CHARACTER OF PHOENICIAN ART. II 3
From existing monuments and the records of history, it is evident that the
familiarity of the ^jDenicians with products of Egypt and Babylon exercised
great influence on their art. Thus Solomon's temple, the work of Phoeniciaxw, — •
seems to have been in its plan Egyptian, but Assyrian in plastic decoration. '39
Moreover, their extensive trade could not fail to develop the industrial arts.
Solomon ordered rare objects of Hiram, king of Tyre, and gave hire to his
servants, who executed them according to all that Hiram appointed. ho Had
we records of the business relations of this ancient people, we should doubt-
less find, that for other lands likewise they made art-objects for sale.
The excavations of M. Renan on Phoenician soil yielded very few sculp-
tured monuments, but in all these the influence of foreign art was evident.
Egyptian forms were most frequently met with, such as the winged diskr^
•decorating the entrance to ruined temples, and the sarcophagi in the form
of the Egyptian mummy-cases. '4« These latter are covered by a slab in imi-
tation of the mummy in its shroud, out of which the head, and occasionally
the hands, appear. A number of these Phoenician sarcophagi were discovered
on various sites, and are now in the Louvre. One is executed in the stone
of the country ; but the remainder are in marble, which must have been im-
ported for the purpose. Sarcophagi of the same style have been discovered on
many dififerent sites where Phoenicians settled, as in Cyprus, Sicily, Malta,
and Corsica. One, discovered at Palermo, was painted in imitation of cloth,
a strange and meaningless addition to stone, but evidently intended to imitate
the mummy-wraps of Egypt. The rendering of the faces on these sarcophagi
varies ; but the far greater part show the influence of Greek art, and conse-
quently must belong to a comparatively late date, as is also indicated by the
style of the graves where they were discovered.
HalfJions in coarse native stone, which decorated a grave at Amrith, the
ancient Marathos, show a remote resemblance to Assyrian motives, but are*^
so rudely blocked out, and left so unfinished, that it is difficult to judge of
their artistic affinities (Fig. 59).
On the island of Arados, off the Phoenician coast, M. Renan discovered a
very characteristic and interesting subject, a part of which is given in Fig. 60.
Here, carved in very low relief, are twojwinged griffins, standing, one on each^
side of a sacred tree, and tasting, as it seems, of its fruit. This tree is made
up entirely of motives borrowed from^ Eg)TPt 5 ^^^ ^^s spreading part is re-
peated in symmetrical regularity above this griffin relief, in imitation, as it
were, of rich hangings. The forms of these griffins, as Furtwangler's com-
parison has shown, are the same as those decorating utensils and ornaments
on Egyptian monuments of as early an age as that of Thothmes 1 1 1. '42 From
the hieroglyphics, however, accompanying such representations in Egypt, it
seems clear that the vessels ornamented with this griffin with closed beak
were the work of Phoenicians imported into Egypt. These griffins f^'^RB^jp
114 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
in the same form and pose on the silver bowls found in Cyprus, and the fact
^Jbat we have them in stone from Phoenicia itself seems to make certain
their Phoenician origin. The combination of a bird-form resembling peacock
^jaatd crane with a lion is skilful, and the decorative effect produced agreeable :
still, their elements are not fully moulded into an organic whole, and the pre-
eminently decorative character is almost too prominent. The significance of
these Phoenician griffins lies in the fact, that they are the patterns found
copied in very old wares on Greek soil, and there improved upon in later
Fig, 69. Uofhtomb at Amrlth (reatored)
works, until this original inspiration is cast entirely in the shade by that to
which it gave birth.
The great significance of Phoenician art lies, not in the scanty sculptures
preserved to us, but in a world of minor art, which recent excavation has
opened up, showing the intensely mongrel character of Phoenician fancy,
ready to borrow wherever it went, and, unlike Egyptian art, impressed by
every new tide of influence. These objects — humble scraps of ivory carvings,
which once decorated some choice utensil ; bronze and silver bowls ; standards
for lights, calling to mind the golden candlesticks of the Jewish temple;
curious shaped bottles for unguents ; large bronze caldrons, and ostrich eggs
— are all carved with strange devices, in which Egyptian elements are found
incongruously mixed up with Assyrian motives, and are all rendered in a lax
and puffy manner, quite different from the severer treatment of eithergenuine
lent ot eitnergenume
Digitized by V^QOQIC
PHCENICIAN SILVER BOWLS.
115
Egyptian or Assyrian work. Such objects were found in the ruins of Nim-
roud in Assyria in large quantities, and are now in the British Museum. A
few fragments of ivory carving, once evidently used for incrusting some
coarser material, doubtless pieces of wooden furniture (Fig. 61), are strongly
Egyptian in subject and form, but lack altogether the vigor and decision so
admirable in genuine Egyptian works. This mode of using ivory will call
to mind at once the thrones, etc., made for the Jews by the Phoenicians, and
described in the Bible. ■« On Italian soil very many products of this peculiar
mongrel art, in one case accompanied by a Phoenician inscription, have been
found in the older graves, dating, as Helbig has shown, from the seventh cen-
tury B.C.*44 Thus, in the celebrated Regulini Galassi tomb at Cervetri, the
so-called Grotta d'Iside at Vulci, in tombs at Veio, Palestrina, Poggio alia
Sala, Sovana, and from the
plain near Salerno, ivory carv-
ings, bronze incrustations, and
bowls of silver and meaner
metal, have been discovered
in large quantities. M5
These bowls of silver and
bronze now form a large fam-
ily, nineteen of them being
known. '46 A group of them
was found at Palestrina in
1876, and the fact that one
bore Phoenician inscriptions
establishes the theory that
their peculiar art is Phoeni-
cian. The technique is a simple one ; the figures being beaten out in the
pliable metal so as to be slightly raised, their surface finished by the graver's
tool.
One of these bowls in silver discovered at Palestrina, but now in the
Museo Kircheriano at Rome, and beautifully preserved, well illustrates the
technique and mongrel forms of this art (Fig. 62). In the centre is a scene
where the long, thin forms, the costumes and hair arrangement, of conqueror
and conquered, call to mind the scenes on Egyptian reliefs ; the hairy dogs
biting the heels of the unhappy fallen, adding an element of brutal fierceness
to the conflict. Outside of this scene prance well-framed horses, used in a
strictly decorative scheme ; each high-stepping steed being the exact repetition
of his neighbor, excepting where a part of a member is carelessly omitted.
Above them, arranged with like regularity, fly birds. But the outer row pre-
sents the most of interest. Here the main part of the circle is occupied with
the hunt of long-horned deer and huge monkeys. We first see hu^^^^s, who t
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
Fig, eo. Relief with Qriffina from Arados. Louure.
Il6 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
wear the Assyrian pointed cap, and are protected by an umbrella, start out
in chariots from a fortification with battlements. Out of the first chariot the
hunter has dismounted, and, kneeling, shoots at a frightened deer just leaping
oS of the curious mountain in front. Before a second mighty hunter on the
mountain summit, a second deer flies ; while, beyond, the hostler feeds the
wearied horses, and a fourth hunter cuts up the prey suspended from a tree.
In all this scene, there is no sig^ of religious symbolism or protecting deity.
But behind the last-named hunter follows clearly a religious rite. Here an
altar burns ; over it hovers the winged disk of Egyptian art ; before it is a
standard, bearing, no doubt, a vase of liquid ofEering ; and in front sits a wor-
shipper,— one of those grandees protected by the umbrella, familiar to us from
Assyrian reliefs. A mountain, from the side of which a.mammoth mask spouts
water, and on the summit of which a deer quietly grazes, and a hare leaps,
separates this scene from the tumult that follows. There a curious winged
being holds in its protecting arms the royal chariot (similar in form to that
occurring in Assyria), safely out of reach of the huge, hairy beast below,
who seems to be hurling a stone. The next chariot has run down one of
these beasts, and another is stamped upon by a hunter. Another hunter
seems to be aiming at the large bird, in form like the sacred hawk of Egypt,
floating above. Around the whole scene a scaly serpent coils its length.
Here we have, then, older Assyrian and Egyptian elements heterogeneously
thrown together ; but, of these, neither the full, puffy style of the one, nor the
severely stern style of the other, seem followed in this mimicking art.
On Greek soil also, but more sparingly, and on a few of the islands,
objects of a kindred character have been found. So the ancient tombs at
Menidi and Spata in Attica, the sacred a/fis at Olympia, the island of
Rhodes, and, more than all, Cyprus, have yielded objects which are decidedly
Phoenician in type. '47
These varied objects, especially in Italy and the islands, have been found
frequently with genuine Egyptian works, such as small shabti^ inscribed
scarabs, vases, and the like, showing that where the Phoenicians carried their
own wares, whether from their cities, Tyre and Sidon, in the mother-land, or
from her proud colonies, such as Carthage, there they introduced likewise the
work of other countries. These latter are of greatest importance, by way of
comparison, in deciding the age of the Phoenician works with which they are
found.
But, besides the objects of whose Phoenician or Egyptian origin there
can be no doubt, there are very many which seem imitations only of such
Phoenician samples, often rude variations on them, and recognizable from
their material, peculiar to the country where they are found ; from their sub-
jects, foreign to Phoenician wares ; and frequently from a greater crudity of
style. '48 ^
Digitized by V^OOQIC
INFLUENCE OF PHCENICIAN ART.
117
Such an object was found at Chiusi, a highly interesting but very puzzling
bit of ivory carving, with mythical subjects so purely Greek that it is difficult
to imagine it the product of Phoenician carving, even though the style
undoubtedly resembles Phoenician work.*49 Here are to be seen male and
female centaurs, Odysseus under the ram as being carried out from Polyphe-
mos* cave, as well as his adventure with the sirens, — all themes sung first
by the epic poets of Ionia. Although found in Chiusi in Etruria, there is
little doubt that this remarkable carving is an imported article. Some
authorities hold the opinion, that it is the work of very early Ionian carvers,
who, although imitating the style of the Phoenicians, from whom they had re-
ceived the ivory, gave expression to their own national myths. Comparison
and further discoveries in Asia-Minor soil will, no doubt,
give us the key to this most interesting problem.
In the few well-certified and widely scattered extant
Phoenician monuments, it is impossible to trace any de-
velopment or steady growth. The scanty remains possess
little intrinsic significance ; and their main interest lies in
the fact, that through the Phoenicians, the art-forms, and
especially the technique, of older civilizations, were com-
municated by trade to the younger and artistically more
gifted people of other lands. ^,^.^;. ^.,i.fi~,^ry
from NImrwid. BHtiih
Turning from the Phoenician coast westward, we find
that Phoenician art, scattered through the Mediterranean coast-lands, every-
where shows, as in Phoenicia itself, a lack of vigor and originality, being mainly
a feeble reflex of that with which it came in contact. Such remains have been
found in Sardinia, Sicily, and elsewhere; but nowhere do they seem more
abundant than in Cyprus, whose position near the Phoenician coast must have
strengthened its relationship to the mother-land.
The mountain ranges of Cyprus must have early offered a tempting goal to
the Phoenicians, who, looking from the slopes of Lebanon across the sea, could
descry their purple lines skirting the horizon. The dense forests and cop-
per mines, so rich as to give the island its name, could not fail to tempt these
conquerors ; and we learn, that, as early as the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury B.C., '50 they settled Cyprus, to hold it until the Greeks should come in
the ninth century to share its possession. From that time the two nationalities
seem to have occupied the island in common, exercising a reciprocal influence.
The influence of Egypt and Assyria must also have been felt in Cyprus, since
the island at times paid tribute to these great powers. When the Thoth-
mes and Rameses conquered Syria, it is evident from hieroglyphics, that
Cyprus also came into political connection with the Nile valley. Later, when
Assyria gained the ascendency, Cypriote princes paid tribute to ^^\ ^?^!{^^fj^| />
Il8 SCULFl^URE IN WESTERN ASIA.
Sargon and Sennacherib. The former, who reigned from 722-705 B.C., set up
in the conquered island a portrait monument of himself, carved in low relief on
a slab of dark stone, and accompanied by peculiar explanatory arrow-head in-
scriptions. This relic of Sargon's power in Cyprus was brought to Germany
by Ross, and may now be seen in the Berlin Museum. The continued inter-
mixture of so many races, as well as the varying political fortunes of the
island, may doubtless, in part, explain the unpleasant mongrel character of
nearly every thing Cypriote, even down to a late date, whether it be in art or
religion.
According to Greek myth, Belos, the Phoenician Baal, conquered the island ;
and at Kition, in Cyprus, by the Shemites called Chittim, his worship seems to
have prevailed. At Amathus were worshipped Astarte and Tammuz, to be-
come in time the Greek Aphrodite and Adonis ; although it was especially at
Paphos that the worship of the Oriental Astarte merged into that of the Greek
Aphrodite. The lion-strangler and sun-god of Phoenician faith, Melkart, be-
came often the Greek Heracles ; and possibly out of the monstrous Moloch
grew some phases of the Zeus and Cronos myths. But out of this tangled
Cypriote mythology, and the accounts by the ancients of the shocking rites
there prevailing, we gain little satisfactory light for an understanding of the
sculptured monuments.
Attention was first drawn to Cypriote sculptures by the German archaeolo-
gist, Ross, who about 1840 brought to Berlin many figures and heads in terra-
cotta and stone, collected in a hasty trip through the island, and like those
afterwards discovered on different sites, or otherwise collected in great num-
bers by the British consul Lang and the brothers Cesnola. Unfortunately no
exact records of the discovery of the remains now in New York appear to
have been kept ; what was found in temple and tomb not having been held
scrupulously apart, nor the localities accurately given. Restorations, carried
out at different times, have increased the confusion already existing, and ren-
dered still more difficult a correct judgment of the majority of these monu-
ments.'so*
The lack of a suitable material in which to express plastic forms, doubtless
afiEected seriously the art of the island, adding its share to the difficulties of
race, etc., with which the provincial school had to contend. Marble, so admir-
ably fitted for sculpture, is not found on the island, the few marbles discovered
doubtless having been imported. The coarse, soft limestone which abounds is
of so crumbling a grain as to be unsuited for fine carving ; and its porousness
makes it a ready prey to moisture and breakage. In consequence, the surface
of statues is rarely found well finished or uninjured. To this inferior character
of the stone may doubtless also be attributed much of the stiffness, and lack of
motion, prevalent in Cypriote statuary, even when belonging to an advanced
age. Traces of color are found on many of these remains ; but, as iaJhfiL
Digitized by ^ -^ ^' ^*
METALLIC BOWLS FROM CYPRUS. II9
jority of cases this has disappeared, it is impossible to judge what principles
guided the artists in their choice of hues.
Although the island was rich in metal, and bowls of silver, and jewellery of
gold, have been brought to light ; yet bronze figures or their fragments are
scarcely ever met with. This circumstance seems to prove that the art of
Pig, 92, BtloBr Bowl diacovtrtd at Palutrlncu Romo,
bronze casting was less practised in Cyprus than in Etruria, a land whose art
offers many resemblances to these Cypriote remains, especially in its lack of
style.
The metallic bowls have all the characteristics of what is believed to be Phoe-
nician strongly pronounced (p. 115), and have been found scattered far beyond
the limits of Cyprus, where they were probably executed. They have been found
in Italy and Greece, and are thought to belong to the seventh and sixth cen-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
I20 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
tunes B.C.*5' Bowls of this class* in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum,.
Athens, and in different Italian collections, show a strange mixture of Egyp-
tian and Assyrian motives, in combination with more natural forms, which are,
however, thrown heterogeneously together. A deeper meaning drawn from
Phoenician mythology is not likely to exist in these objects ; and we are struck
by the freedom with which foreign sacred symbols are arbitrarily borrowed,
combined, and applied for purposes of decoration.
A silver bowl in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, said to have been
discovered at Curium, in Cyprus, with a design in concentric circles, well illus-
trates this ruling tendency. In the centre is a winged figure stabbing a lion,
— a subject frequently met with on Assyrian and Babylonian seals, but here
varied by the addition of colossal wings, which are likewise Assyrian in origin.
About this scene float two birds, clearly taken from Egyptian art. Surround-
ing this centre-piece, motives from nature, a horse browsing, two bulls bucking,
and a cow suckling her calf, are combined with others, clearly Egyptian, such
as a reclining sphinx wearing the royal pshent^ and a kneeling Egyptian archer
attacking a lion. This mixture of forms is still more apparent in the outer
circle of this elaborate bowl. Here a sacred tree, made up of Egyptian mo-
tives, is the centre of many different scenes. At one time Isis, strangely
enough wearing huge wings, holds up the lotos-blossom towards the tree ;
again, two winged sphinxes, half rampant, seem to be smelling of its half-blown
buds ; still again, griffins pick at its spreading summit, or horned goats mount
it on either side, calling to mind similar scenes on the borders of Assyrian
robes. In one row is a genuine Egyptian scene : a king, swinging high his
weapon, threatens to strike off the many heads of his fallen enemies, whose
scalp-locks he holds in his hand ; while hawk-headed Horus stands by, and en-
courages him in the act. Although the devices are curious, and the mastery
of the material is commendable, the metal being made to obey the silver-
smiths' tools, both in the original hammering out of the surface to represent
the raised figures, and in the final painstaking finish ; yet how unsatisfactory
this transparently eclectic art, to those seeking for creations moulded by an
originating fancy !
Turning our attention to statuary from Cyprus, we find, in looking over the
large monuments, that portrait figures occupy the foreground, representations
of gods and heroes being usually small and comparatively few. These portrait
figures, one of which is represented according to Doell's publication (Fig. 63),
doubtless represent worshippers, who always quietly stand, and frequently bear
some gift by which to win the favor of deity. These worshippers bearing
gifts are a peculiarly Semitic motive, rarely met with in purely Hellenic
art. '52 It is certainly interesting to notice, that this feature continually
asserts itself in Cypriote art ; the presentation of a portrait statue with its gift
always being a favorite mode of approaching deity among the conservative
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
CYPRIOTE MONSTER.
121
islanders, even after they had become thoroughly acquainted with the Greek
modes and spirit. Such portrait statues make up the larger part of the Cypri-
ote statuary in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, whether crude and
barbarous, or more advanced in style.
In addition, Cypriote art offers a few representations of deity. Among
these, we see a human figure with a ram's head,
which, like the hawk-headed deities, point to Egypt
as a land from which the Cypriotes borrowed.
Heracles, so important in original Phoenician myth
as Melkart, is also met with in large as well as
small figures. In one colossal statue, discovered
at Amathus, and now in Constantinople, this semi-
Oriental hero clasps to his side a lion of dispro-
portionately small size. '53
There is in the Metropolitan Museum, No.
156 (Fig. 64), a most unique combination, worthy of
notice, which is said to have been untouched by
modern restoration, and doubtless had to the Cypri-
otes of old a religious significance now impossi-
ble to divine. Here we see, carved apparently
from a single block of coarse limestone, a bearded
man, with wings starting from his chest, and a
true lion, this monument not exceeding seventy-
six centimeters (two and one-half feet) in height.
The man wears what seems to be the double
crown of Egypt, and stands back to back to the
lion, who looks in the opposite direction, with ears
erect, and showing his grim teeth. This fabulous
combination seems remotely to suggest Assyrian
portal monsters, but has Egyptian additions, and
native Cypriote features.
Female figures in Cypriote art are very fre-
quent, often holding with the right hand a blos-
som to the breast, and with the left raising the
drapery. By many, this frequently recurring female
figure is thought to represent Aphrodite ; but by others it is supposed to be
simply a worshipper. '54 Certain well-developed female heads, wearing high
mural crowns, may represent the genius of some city ; but the crown doubtless
points to the fact, that the idea of this goddess was borrowed from Asia Minor,
where similar mural coronets appear in very ancient rock sculptures of Cap-
padokia ; a similar head adornment being likewise seen on coins with the eflSgy
of the Ephesian Artemis.
Digitized by LjOOQ IC
Fig, es.
Portrait Status of Cypriote
Worahlppar.
122
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
Monuments, whose purpose is unquestionably funereal, have also been found
in large numbers. Of these the most important are sarcophagi. Some are
servile imitations of the Egyptian mummy-case, like those found in Phoenicia,
and its other colonies. More interesting, however, are the sarcophagi in imi-
tation of a long building. The lid has the shape of a sloping roof, with a pedi-
ment at either end, on whose comers sphinxes or lions recline. Reliefs adorn
the sides ; having reference, doubtless, to rites in honor of the dead, or repre-
senting duties concerned with the departed.
In mustering now this array of sculptures, we find that the statue carved
fully in the round was never acclimatized in Cyprus ; the backs of all the figures
teing left flat, and in the rough. The spirit which permitted this neglect, as
well as the superficial treatment of the body as compared with the head, is far
difEerent from that which appears in even the oldest
extant Greek statues, such as the so-called Apollo from
Boeotia (p. 213), and the one from Tenea. In the lat-
ter, the backs are as fully modelled as the front, and
the body more carefully studied even than the face.
Cypriote statuary may be roughly divided into two
great classes, — the ruder and more primitive corre-
sponding, apparently, to the predominance of Phoenician
elements in the island ; and the more developed, to the
influence of the Greeks, who, however, never succeeded
in remoulding the old into any thing better than a very
second-rate provincial art. Many of the cruder statues,
which may, in general, be termed Phoenician, wear gar-
ments which are evidently copied from Egypt, such as
the peculiar klaft^ or head-dress, the broad breast-collar, and kilt worn about
the hips, its front frequently ornamented with asps, which on the Nile indicated
royalty, but here are not readily explained. Still another close imitation of
Egypt is to be noticed in the skin worn by several figures, and common in
Egypt for priests. The summariness of treatment in all these crude statues,
the sketchiness in rendering form, hair, beard, and clothing, as well as the ad-
vancement of the left foot in those not heavily draped, likewise call directly to
mind Eg3rptian motives, and make it evident that these islanders were strongly
under the influence of the hoary civilization of the Nile, without attaining in
their works any of its dignity, or severe artistic spirit.
Other figures wear a strange conical cap, which at first sight calls to mind
helmets seen on Assyrian reliefs. Many of these caps are, however, clearly
imitations of knitted stuffs, and hence cannot be accoutrements of war, but,
doubtless, a head-dress of the country, such as is said still to be worn in
Cyprus. The beards of these figures in conical caps, and their long, plain
drapery, have also been likened to Assyrian sculpture ; but the resemblance is
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
^Ig, 94, Man, Lion, and Bird
Monstw found In Cyprus,
Now York.
AGE OF CYPRIOTE STATUARY. 1 23
remote. '5S There is throughout a marked neglect of those decorative details
which, as we have seen, were essentials to the Assyrian sculptors.
In all these crude figures, the native sculptor seems to be struggling to ren-
der a peculiar type, although hampered by conventionality and his crude mate-
rial. This " Cypriote type " is marked by a retreating forehead, projecting
nose, large, protruding eyes, a pointed chin and beard, and a small, peaked
mouth, whose corners seem drawn up in a perpetual smile, partly by reason of
the pronounced cheek-bones. In statues where the improving Greek influence
is perceptible, the face becomes milder, but seldom gains any true beauty or
vigor of feature ; and the form, although somewhat more carefully rendered,
seems, as with the Etruscan artist, always to be considered a very secondary
matter. »55» The drapery, indeed, receives a few parallel folds; and the attempt
to render its surface is evident : but, on comparison with genuine Greek drapery,
that of Cyprus is a feeble mimicry ; and, even in statues of very late date, the
representation of the Roman toga is a caricature of that dignified and graceful
garment
The question as to the age of Cypriote statues is open to much discussion.
Those having Egyptian garments have been conjecturally placed as far back as
between 1600 and 1000 B.C., when Egypt controlled the East : those supposed
to be clothed in Assyrian style are assigned by some to the period between
1000 and 500 B.C., when Assyria and Babylon held sway. The remainder fall
into the period extending from 500 B.C., when Greek customs came to prevail,
down to the fall of the Roman empire. A comparison of the more primitive
statues with one another and with Egyptian monuments does not, however,
confirm this broad chronology ; and it seems far more probable, that even what
has an Egyptian tinge belongs to a late date, the style of the head-dress being
like that worn by Egyptians in Psammetichos' time, and not earlier. To the
Athenians of iEschylos* time, twenty-five years after the close of the Persian
war, when a Pheidias and a Myron were working in Athens, the word ** Cypri-
ote " seems to have stood for what was Egyptian in appearance, as may be
gathered from a short passage 5n iEschylos. '56 This hint at the stiffness and
ungainliness of the Cypriote style at that late date confirms the theory, that
Cypriote sculptures are not of a hoary antiquity, but the works of a compara-
tively late and backward school. The discovery at Salamis, by Ohnefalsch-
Richter, of objects, apparently of great antiquity, in juxtaposition with coins of
the Roman age, shows clearly that the reproduction of ancient forms was
there kept up to latest times. '57
Digitized by
Google
CHAPTER IX.
THE EARLIEST MONUMENTS IN ASIA MINOR.
Asia Minor. — Its Inhabitants. — Religion. — Earliest Art. — Affinities with that of Babylonia and Egypt.
— Smaller Objects found. — Oldest Monuments with Hieroglyphics. — Cappadokia. — Ruins of
Boghaz Keui. — Ruins at Euyuk. — Ruins at Ghiaour Kalessi. — Ruins at Karabel. — Figures called
Egyptian by Herodotos. — Carvings on Mount Sipylos. — Ancient Niobe. — Figure discovered by
Mr. Ramsay. — Hittite Art found at Ghurun, Alexandretta, on the Southern Coast, and Inland. —
Distinctive Characteristics of this Art. — Conjectures of Sayce. — Phrygian Sculptures in Asia
Minor. — Lions at Ayazeen.
The mountainous table-lands of Asia Minor have been from time immemo-
rial the arena where nations have come and gone. The monuments left by
these ancient civilizations, besides their intrinsic interest, are important as
throwing light on the courses pursued by Oriental culture, as, passing through
various modifications, it travelled from the valley of the Tigris to the Greek
world.
The peninsula is crossed on the south by the snowy range of the Tauros ;
the rocky and abrupt southern shores being broken by poor harbors, and in-
terspersed with small, fruitful plains. The central table-lands, sloping gradu-
ally to the north, form the watershed for the largest rivers, — the Halys and
Sangarios, — which find their outlet along the almost unbroken coasts of the
Euxine. On the west the shores are beautifully varied : precipitous and for-
bidding cliffs alternate with well-sheltered bays, and visions of mysterious
highlands in the heart of the land meet the eye. Along the shore nestle fruit-
ful islands; and farther out in the western waters are visible the Kyclades,
tempting stepping-stoines for primitive seafarers to and from the shores of
Greece beyond.
Tradition vaguely tells us, that Phrygians, Cappadokians, Mysians, Lydians,
and Carians occupied the land. The main part of these tribes doubtless
belonged to the Aryan race, who had wandered from Central Asia. The
Phrygians were certainly near of kin to the Greeks : from the Carians the
Greeks borrowed their peculiar helmet and weapons, adopting many elements
from their religion as well.'sS Clinging to the western coast was a fringe of
Greek settlements, consisting of Dorians, lonians, and iEolians. According
to one view, the progenitors of these Greeks in Asia Minor originally came
124 Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ORIENTAL FEATURES IN EARLY RELIGION OF ASIA MINOR. 125
directly from the centre of Asia. '59 Another theory, leaning on the Greek
tradition that these tribes wandered from Hellas to Asia Minor, maintains that
one branch of the Aryan race came from its primeval seats in Asia around by
the north of the Black Sea, and passed by way of Epeiros into Greece proper,
where it spread, and took possession. The land becoming populous, and
younger, more vigorous tribes appearing on the spot, adventurous spirits
started out, and, going from island to island, at last reached the Asia-Minor
coast, from which they crowded back the original dwellers, but received many
civilizing elements to spread back in time to Greece itself. There are signs
from very early times of such a lively interchange between Asia Minor and
Greece, for along these Asiatic shores Hellenic institutions were first devel-
oped. Homeric verse was born upon these shores, and here Greek cities
flourished long before Athens took any part in history.
Of the earliest history of Asia Minor, we have only vague tradition ; but of
its most ancient art a few mysterious monuments exist. Of these, more are
•continually coming to light ; and the eager search now being made in that
little-explored land is meeting its reward.
The earliest religions of Asia Minor bear, in many of their features, a close
resemblance to those of Babylon and Phoenicia, but have others which seem
peculiar to the new land, and its impulsive peoples. In Phrygia the great
deity is Amma, or Kybele as the Greeks called her, the nurturing mother of
all, whose priests went to the gfreatest extremes of orgiastic frenzy, — even to
emasculation. With this goddess the Artemis of oldest times must have had
many qualities in common ; both being personifications of the living, fertile
principle in nature, and far difiEerent from our conception of the Hellenic
huntress Artemis. Accompanying Kybele is Atys, the Phrygian Adonis, who
dies, is passionately mourned for, but comes to life again. In Cappadokia the
moon-goddess of war was an important divinity, who was served in rites like
those met with in Syria ; her priestesses, it is said, being clad in armor, like
men.*^ This strange custom in Asia Minor was, perhaps, the kernel for
the Amazon myth of the Greeks, but so beautiful and original in its later
form, as hardly to be traceable to this beginning. The Lydian religion also
showed points of resemblance to the Orient. The Lydians served a sun-god
called Sandon, whose cult was associated with that of the goddess Kybele.
Their Heracles, in Omphale's clothes, seems to be an echo of the androgynous
god of the Syrians, a conception altogether foreign to the Aryan race. The
many names and myths of Oriental color in Asia Minor had led to the con-
jecture, that Assyria early held sway, even as far west as Lydia: but an
Assyrian inscription teaches us otherwise ; for in it an Assyrian king of as
late a time as the seventh century B.C. declares that Lydia was a country
imknown to his ancestors. '^^ Other than direct Assyrian influences must,
then, be sought for as the bearers of Oriental culture into Asia Minor.. ^^^T^
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
126 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
The oldest monuments discovered on the soil of Asia Minor are numerous
massive walls and fortresses, corresponding in character and workmanship ta
the Cyclopean structures of Greece and Italy, besides extensive palaces in
Cappadokia, Oriental in plan, but thoroughly original in build, with massive
stone foundations and walls. '^^ The tombs, likewise of cyclopean structure,
cut in the rocks, and having false entrances and pediments, which seem to offer
the rudiments afterwards developed in Greek architecture into a perfect whole,,
are also peculiar to this soil.*^3 There are, besides, very ancient tumuli,,
evidently the patterns of those in Eastern Greece, and themselves copies from
the oldest graves in the neighborhood of ancient Babylon. Again, there are
numerous sculptures carved in the mountain side, sometimes lining a rock-cut
chamber, sometimes adorning the front of a grave, or towering above the road-
side. Many of these are exceedingly primitive, but accompanied by mysterious,
hieroglyphics.
Besides these massive witnesses to the very early art in Asia Minor, smalt
objects have been found. Thus, gold ornaments decorated with calves' heads,,
and curious human heads wearing the Egyptian head-dress, have recently been
discovered in Lydia, and correspond to similar jewels found on the island of
Rhodes, at Megara in Greece, and in Etruscan graves. ^^4 Lydian coins, the
first that were struck, also throw some light on the forms and subjects used by
the very ancient artists in Asia Minor.^^s How much more secluded valleys
and forsaken mountain sides still secrete, is a question which the bold and self-
denying explorer alone can answer.
Considering more closely the sculptures in Asia Minor, we find that the
oldest seem to be those with strange hieroglyphics executed in relief against a
background, instead of being sunken into it, as usual in Egyptian hieroglyphics
and Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions. The widely scattered members of this
family of sculptures, whose common resemblance was first recognized by Pro-
fessor Sayce, may be followed to Carchemish, Aleppo, and Hamath, in North-
ern Syria : but their hieroglyphics have, as yet, refused to disclose their secrets ;
the single bilingual inscription in which they are grouped with cuneiform in-
scriptions being very short, and of questioned genuineness.'^ These oldest
monuments seem to lie along the great routes leading from the south and east
through the peninsula northward and north-westward to Sardis and the shores
of the iEgean Sea, and have some resemblance to the art of far-oflf Southern
Mesopotamia. '67 The great centre of this peculiar art is in the heart of Asia
Minor in Cappadokia. At Boghaz Keui — probably the Pteria'^ of classic
times — and at Euyuk, both situated on the eastern bank of the Halys, in the
line of the high-road from Sardis to Armenia, extensive sculptural, as well as
architectural, ruins show the works of this civilization, of whose existence until
within a few years we had only faint intimations. The ruins at Boghaz Keui
were first visited by Texier, but were more thoroughly explored by Perrot and
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ROCK SCULPTURES IN CAPPADOKIA.
127
the French archaeological expedition sent out to ancient Galatia in 1862. At
this place, from the river's bank rise the massive ruins of a building with thirty
chambers, courts, and corridors, arranged about a central space, calling to mind
the plan of Babylonian and Assyrian palaces, but, unlike them, not raised on
clay mounds, but on a terrace of cyclopean masonry, ascended by steps. At
some distance from these palace-ruins are sculptural remains, far more inde-
pendent in character, and having a peculiarly national type. These are cut in
the living rock of a rectangular court, itself hewn out of the mountain side.
Around this rock-chamber, whose floor when seen by Perrot was a bed of
turf studded with flowers, there walk two stone processions, commencing
with diminutive figures, scarcely seventy-five centimeters high, and ending in
two forms over two meters
high, the principal members
of the cort/ge. Although
the material in which these
strange processions of over
sixty figures are cut is a
hard, crystalline limestone,
and notwithstanding the
coating of stucco once laid
over them, still preserved
in places, these sculptures
are now seriously dam-
aged. This stucco incrus-
tation, doubtless originally
enlivened *by varied colors,
has now a yellowish tone.
In these stone figures a religious ceremony is doubtless represented. Some
of the figures are evidently gods or spirits, having supernatural emblems, such
as wings and animals' heads, or accompanied by symbolical animals and hills on
which they ride (Fig. 65). Good casts of these sculptures, poorly represented in
the cut, have recently arrived in the Berlin Museum. In the centre of one pro-
cession is a colossal bearded figure, wearing a tall, pointed head-dress, tip-tilted
shoes, and short tunic, garments peculiar to this family of sculptures, and prob-
ably the national costume. He walks on the necks^ two smaller figures, who
may be captives, and approaches a companion of equal size. The latter wears
a mural crown, and long, flowing dress, which seem to be female distinctions.
The lion she rides steps on four diminutive mountains, a representation familiar
to us from Babylonian cylinders, and showing her to be a goddess. A male
figure follows her, like the first, in tip-tilted shoes, tiara, and short tunic, riding
on an animal which walks on hills. Close in his wake follow two females in
trailing garments and with mural crowns, standing above the heads and sgread
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Fig. 66. Part of Rook-h9wn Proetaaloti at Boghai Keul. Cappadokla.
128 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
wings of a^djiuhlfislxeaded eagle, which probably characterizes these figures also
as goddesses. This bird appears also on the ruined monolith forming one of
the gate-posts of the palace at Euyuk, and we are well acquainted with it as the
heraldic device on many European coins and standards. To trace the manner
in which this familiar emblem, originating in these hoary rock-sculptures of
Cappadokia, has come down to us, is most inte]:esJting.{S^' It was adopted by
the Seljukian sultans on taking possession of Cappadokia and Lycaonia in the
eleventh century A.D., and was taken from them by the Crusaders, to be car-
ried into Europe. The first bronze coin with the double-headed eagle upon it
was struck by the Sultan Malik-es-Salah Mahmud in 1217 A.D., and the symbol
first appeared on the arms of the German emperor in 1345. Following the
large bearded god and his immediate associates at Boghaz Keui is a proces-
sion of twelve warriors marching in close ranks, with the usual male dress :
following the goddesses come thirteen females in long, trailing garments.
Extensive and remarkable sculptures, varying in important details from
these at Boghaz Keui, were discovered by Perrot at^ Euyuk, a few miles farther
north on the Halys. Here are also extensive p^ace-ruins, one gateway of
which, in block granite, is preserved, as well as the reliefs which flank it.
The granite door-posts are carved in the likeness of standing sphinxes ; and
traces of others were found without the gate, and leading up to it.* 7© The ex-
--^ting sphinxes, although evidently suggested by those of Egypt, do not crouch,
but stand, like Assyrian "cherubim," at the gate. The hair, instead of having
the straight ends of the Egyptian klaft^ takes a decidedly decorative curve on
«ach side ; the ear, which in Egypt is high above the eye, is here on the same
level ; and an elaborate necklace, never met with in Egyptian sphinxes in the
round, here clasps the neck.
In the reliefs without the gate, ceremonial figures, like those at Boghaz
Keui, are engaged before an altar ; others lead animals for o£Fering ; the build-
ing of the palace itself seems to be depicted ; a snake-charmer, holding a guitar,
stands with a serpent curled around his body ; and another figure at his side
holds a long-tailed monkey. In all these reliefs, there is the same thickness of
-proportions, the same inferiority of the human to the animal form, seen at
Boghaz Keui. A somewhat greater skill, however, in handling the stone, and
in making the relief represent what the sculptor desired, is noticeable in these
Euyuk sculptures, which may, therefore, belong to a somewhat later date.
To the west of those Cappadokian ruins, and on the road to Sardis, are
others at Ghiaour Kalessi, nine hours south of ancient Ankyra in Phrygia.
Here two colossal warriors, about 2.74 meters (9 feet) high (Fig. 66), and girt
with long swords, are carved in the mountain rock, against which still lean
the Cyclopean walls of an ancient fortress with masonry, like that at Boghaz
Keui. These huge warriors, one of whom is bearded, have all the peculiarities
of garments and weapons which characterize the sculptured processions at
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ROCK-SCULPTURES IN PHRYGU.
129
Boghaz Keuiy and the ancient palace-builders at Euyuk. Here may be seen,
likewise, the same forward bend of the body, roundness and thickness of form,
together with the peculiar treatment of the relief, the surfaces of which are
flatly treated, although at the edges retiring abruptly to the background;
features which seem to indicate a striving to pass from low to high relief.
Better known, though less imposing than these two Phrygian warriors, are
their fellows at Karabel, about twenty-five miles inland from Smyrna, beyond
Sardis, on the road connecting it with the iEgean Sea. Nearly twenty-four
hundred years ago they were described by Herodotos as two figures carved in
the rocks by the side of the roads that ran from Smyrna to Sardis, and from
Ephesos to Phocaia. One of them, he says, has hieroglyphics across the
Flg» 66. Warriors htwn In the Rook, and Cyclopean Walla, at Qhlaour Kaltaal, Phrygla.
chest, and holds a spear in the right hand.'7i Even in Herodotos* time, these
figures were enigmatical to the lonians; and the travelled historian makes
the conjecture, that they represent the great Egyptian conqueror Sesostris, of
whose exploits he had heard much while in Egypt.
One of these ancient stone warriors, so puzzling to the old historian, has
been known to moderns for nearly fifty years. It is more than life-size, and
is carved out in a niche in the rocks, 42.70 meters (140 feet) above the
path. The other, but a few yards distant, carved in a niche, and cut out of
a single huge bowlder, was only discovered within a few years ; as the mod-
em path runs along the uncut back of the stone buried in bushes. As traces
of the ancient road have been detected at the base of the carved side of this
monolith, it is more than likely that this second figure is the one described in
detail by Herodotos, ani not the other, which was high overhead. A nearer
study of these ancient road-keepers shows that Herodotos was mistaken in
thinking them Egyptian. Not only is the costume of the figures different
from that worn by Egyptians, but the style of these thick-set and massive forms
is also unlike that of Egypt. The prevalent low reliefs on the Nile are strongl3CQTp
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I30 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
contrasted to these figures, whose edges rise almost perpendicularly from the
background. Still more do the hieroglyphics argue against an Eg)rptian origin
of these monuments ; they being entirely incomprehensible to the Egyptologist,
but duplicates of those at Boghaz Keui in Cappadokia, and at Carchemish and
Hamath in Northern Syria.
On the north slope of Mount Sipylos, near ancient Magnesia, is another
rock-cut image, usually called Niobe, which for ages has busied the imagina-
tion of men. In Homeric verse, we seem to hear such a figure described in
the lines, —
** And now forever 'mid the rocks
And desert hills of Sipylos,
Although she be transformed to stone, she broods
O'er the woes inflicted by the gods."
And there are passages in Sophocles' Antigone which seem like a "half-under-
stood reminiscence " of this statue on Sipylos. Ancient travellers, who made
pilgrimages to this shrine, give more accurate accounts, which may be com-
pared with those of moderns. '72 Pausanias describes a Niobe which he saw
in climbing Sipylos, and which, when looked at close at hand, seemed but a
precipitous rock, presenting no likeness to a female form. At some distance,
however, it seemed a woman bent over and weeping. Again, he tells us of a
figure of Kybele, the oldest image of that goddess, carved in Sipylos by
Proteas, son of Tantalos. Whether his Niobe and Kybele are one and the
same, or whether he describes in his Niobe an image yet to be discovered,
are still questions. The female figure here carved in a niche in the rock
is about five meters (16 feet) high, and is cut out squarely, with only one or
two details in the relief. It is, to use Mr. Ramsay's words, "the product
of an art so unskilful and so crude, the limestone out of which it is cut is
so liable to decay, that it has to be mentally restored to some extent be-
fore it can be understood; but, the nearer one approaches to it, the more
clear does it become, that the image of a human being is here represented."
Greek tradition made the figure weep, and recent travellers have claimed that
they saw the water trickling from it ; but Mr. Ramsay, who saw it twice in the
rain, noticed that the water flowed quite clear of the figure, not even touching
the knees. This makes it doubtful whether it can be the Niobe described by
Pausanias; and that it corresponds better to a figure of Kybele is evident
from the fact that its pose is that met with in the Babylonian representations
of the kindred goddess. A woman is here seated on a throne, with hands upon
the breast About the position of the feet, there has been much discussion ;
but they seem to rest on two mountains, like those on which the great gods,
or the animals which support them, stand at Boghaz Keui. The worship of
Kybele prevailed in Asia Minor : the cities of Magnesia and Sm)rrna swore by
her, and many sites in Greece itself held her sacred. It seems, then, that, in
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CONJECTURES ABOUT HITTITES. 131
this rock-cut Sipylos figure, the Babylonian goddess stands before us on her
half-way journey from her old home in Southern Mesopotamia to Greece, a
silent witness to Oriental influence on the Western World. Hieroglyphics
discovered by Mr. Dennis on the rock by her side allow us to link this hoary
figure with the sculptures of Boghaz Keui and Karabel, and show clearly that
it is one of that family of monuments extending from Cappadokia, over Phrygia
and Lydia, down to the iEgean Sea.^73
A like figure, discovered by Mr. Ramsay, near the Phrygian tomb of
Midas, adds one more link to this chain, but is likewise too seriously injured
to discern its peculiar features. Other monuments of this ancient art have
been found in Southern Asia Minor : thus, to the south of Boghaz Keui, near
Ghurun and Marash, on the road from the Halys to Northern Mesopotamia,
are to be seen similar hieroglyphics. Still farther south, among the moun-
tains inland from Alexandretta, extensive rock-sculptures, probably belonging
to the same family, are to be seen, and along the southern coast between
Samas and Kannidelli, at Korycos in ancient Kilikia, and farther inland among
the mountains of Lycaonia at Ibreez and Trahtin in the neighborhood of
silver-mines.' 74
Although these monuments have resemblances to the art of Southern
Mesopotamia, as seen in their strange symbols, the figures riding on ani--
mals or on hills, etc., recurring on Babylonian cylinders ; yet their enduring
character as carved in the mountain sides, in contrast to the perishable art
on the Tigris, as well as their peculiar costumes, and mingling of high and
low relief, show national and independent traits.
The deep mystery hanging about the people who created this art could
not fail to awaken the ingenuity of scholars seeking its solution. As Car-
chemish was an ancient centre of Hittite power, Professor Sayce has associ-
ated the monuments there found with that ancient people ; and finding similar
hieroglyphics and sculptures in Boghaz Keui, Karabel, and Kilikia, he has
sought to trace that people still farther, on the supposition that they once
held a large part of Asia Minor. Egyptian monuments indicate that the
Hittites, called Kheta, were at the height of their power in the time of
Rameses II., and that with them the Egyptians struggled for twenty years.
Professor Sayce consequently conjectures, that the Hittites must have held
Asia Minor not long after that time, which would be about the twelfth century
B.C. He imagines that they then executed the monuments we have been
discussing, borrowing from their predecessors, the Babylonians, and learn-
ing from the Egyptians with whom they had come in collision. '74*
On this supposition, that the Hittites once held Lydia and Western Asia
Minor, it would readily happen that the ancestors of the Greeks became
acquainted with Babylonian civilization through them, and not directly through
the Assyrians, as has been often conjectured. As no tradition, ^^^>^&|p
132
SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
supports this tempting theory, that Hittites ever ruled in Cappadokia and
Lydia, the decipherment of the hieroglyphics will probably alone decide who
the mysterious people were, who, in Asia Minor, communicated to the Greeks
their knowledge of Babylonia.
Besides these very early sculptures with hieroglyphics, others have recently
been discovered in Phrygia which seem to be a later branch of the same
family, so similar is their style and treatment. Among the more interesting
of these remains is a tomb discovered by Mr. Ramsay in 1881, near the
modem village of Ayazeen, bearing in its decoration a most striking resem-
blance to the Lion Gate of MykeneiiZ^ On a perpendicular cliff, running
along the face'oTa hill, a cube of rock projects, in the front of which is a
small door in the usual posi-
tion in these Phrygian rock-
graves, about 6.10 meters (20
feet) above the ground. Over
this doorway is carved an obe-
lisk, and on each side a ram-
m *-^nt lion with its paws on
ly the top of the door, its head
^ in full profile, and its gaping
jaws and projecting tongue
facing the obelisk (Fig. 67).
The colossal beasts, each
about 5.18 meters (17 feet)
high, were overgrown with
moss ; so that no detail of
the sculpture, except eye and ear, was visible. Their tails are long, and what
to Mr. Ramsay appeared to be a cub lies under each one. The fundamental
idea of these lions, guarding the entrance of the grave, seems to be the same as
lliat of the Mykene lions j[g^jS4) ; although they are vastly inferior to the latter
in artistic merit, the heads being disproportionately large. The great interest
of this monument lies in the fact, that it is the earliest of eight tombs in
Phrygia, in all of which this subject re-appears ; thus indicating clearly, that
the pattern of the Mykene lions must have come from Asia Minor.
Near by was a broken fragment of another tomb, a lion's head, and part
of a human arm thrusting a weapon. This may have been the Oriental group,
well known from Babylonian gems, of a human being slaying a lion. The
most remarkable feature is the lion's head, measuring from nose to back
of head 2.29 meters (7 J feet), and, although conventional in detail, full of
fierce expression. The whole surface is carefully worked out in flat detail,
although the edges of the relief sink down rapidly fifteen centimeters to the
background. This approach to high-relief calls to mind the so-called Hittite
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Fig, 67, Relief of Llona on Tomb near Ayazeen. Phrygia*
DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-RELIEF. 133
monuments, but the whole execution of this fine head is far superior. There
is also a clear attempt to produce a truly sculptural effect, far in advance of
the Assyrian portal-figures, in which we find high and low relief in unpleas-
ant juxtaposition.
Mr. Ramsay also discovered a strange procession of eight figures, having
one traditional type, besides other mysterious figures.
In these monuments of Asia Minor, with their Oriental and independent
motives, we have, then, a witness to the continuous tradition in art, extending
from the Babylonian plains of prehistoric times down through the great
courses of trade, migration, and conquest, till it reached the Greek world. We
stand now on the border-land of that great civilization, which, while learning
from the past, should, through the power of its inborn spirit, remould the
old types, and create a new world of beautiful forms.
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EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
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CHAPTER X.
PRE-HOMERIC AND HOMERIC ART.
Geographical Character of Greece.— Its Earliest Inhabitants.— The Pelasgians. — Earliest Religion of
Greece.— Aryan and Semitic Elements. — Imageless Worship.— Crude Idols. — Mythical Artists.
Daidalos. — Oldest Monuments. — Mykene Tombs. — Other Tombs. — Their Contents. — Distinct
Artistic Elements. — •* Island Stones. ** — Geometrical Decoration. — " Red-clay Ware." — Native
Art. — Art traceable to Asia Minor. — Union of Elements. — Oriental Influence. — Ornament with
Lions. — Ornament showing Phoenician Influence. — Decorations at Orchomenos. — Mykene Sword-
blades. — Party-colored Gold. — Supposed Egyptian Influence. — Independent Characteristics. —
Lion Gate at Mykene. — Homeric Descriptions of Art Objects. — Achilles* Shield. — Heracles*
Shield. — Statues of Gods mentioned in Homer. — Value placed upon Phoenidan Ware. — Influence
of Poetry on Art. — Formation of Artistic Types.
The Strongly pronounced features of land and clime could not fail to leave
their deep impress on the inhabitants of Greece. History bears witness to the
often imperceptible but none the less powerful influence of natural causes in
the development of national character. We have seen, that the unchanging
uniformity of the Egyptian landscape, and the ever-recurring phenomena of
the Nile valley, deeply affected the national and social life of Egypt. So, too,
the broad, alluvial plains of Mesopotamia, a tempting ground for contending
empires, and the home of abject multitudes, inevitably gave a cast to the form
that civilization there assumed. And thus it was in more favored Greece,
blest with an endless variety of natural advantages, which could not fail to
mirror themselves in the character of its population.
The peninsula, projecting far into the sea, is, in a certain sense, isolated
from the surrounding countries. Its western coast is little broken, but deep
bays and gulfs indent its eastern shores. To the south and east numerous
islands dot the neighboring sea, stepping-stones, as it were, to the opposite
coasts, and tempting the primitive inhabitants of Greece to a seafaring, adven-
turous life. The land is not topographically a monotonous whole, but is broken
up by mountains and fertile valleys into separate cantons, communicating more
readily by sea than by land : thus Attica is surrounded on three sides by water^
and separated from Boeotia by mountain ranges ; thus Argolis nestles between
the sea and Gulf of Corinth, and the mountain cantons of the Peloponnesos
seem by nature assigned the part they were to play in history. With such a
natural conformation, these states could not fail to give birth to more or less
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138 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL,
peculiar shades of culture. Moreover, the nature of the land was hostile to
effeminacy. The friction of contending tribes tended to develop a martial
spirit. Continuous and intelligent labor was required to obtain from the soil
an existence, and thus the Greek was shielded from the danger of sinking into
luxurious apathy and soft indulgence. So the peasant poet Hesiod sings, —
** Work, Perses, that hunger remain far from thee, and the beautifully wreathed Demeter be
friendly to thee ; for the diligent are loved by the immortals."
The varied beauties of their land must have worked with a magical power
on the imagination of this people. They saw in each valley, and on each
mountain, storm alternating with sunshine : they saw the blue arms of the sea
breaking into every retired bay, and the rugged lines of mountain and cliflf set
off by the quiet horizon of the distant waters, interrupted only by silvery
islands. No wonder that their fancy, stirred by such scenes, should have
enlivened the beauties of nature with creations of the imagination equally
beautiful. Here no tropic heat or arctic cold warped and dwarfed the full
development of man ; and the moderation of the clime preserved the imagina-
tion from revelling in the wildly voluptuous dreamland of the Hindoo, or in
the weird, shadowy, and monstrous fantasies of the foggy and inhospitable
North.
Thanks to its central geographical position, Greece was most favorably
situated for becoming the focus whither flowed all the streams of ancient
civilization. Surrounded by the hoary lands of antiquity, and its own sister-
colonies scattered along the shores of the Mediterranean and on the islands,
we find, from time immemorial, the Greeks, by means of migration, trade, and
warfare, being brought into contact with reviving influences from without,
remoulding their myth, religion, and art, so that no germs of ancient life were
wanting in bringing to perfect fruition the rich plant of Hellenic culture.
The Greeks fondly believed themselves to be autochthons of the soil, the
earth-born children of Hellas. But, in truth, their remote ancestry had wan-
dered from distant regions into this favored land. The unerring analogy of
language and myth has shown, that on the far-off table-lands of Central Asia
dwelt the parent-stock of the great Aryan, or Indo-Germanic, race. '76 Descend-
ing from their primeval seats, its different branches spread into the valleys
of the Indus, took possession of Iran, and wandered westward into Europe.
To these latter belong the so-called Pelasgians, a portion of whom became the
ancestors of the Greeks ; certain races in time taking a more prominent place
under the names Dorians, ^Eolians, and lonians. The migration of the Dorians
southward probably resulted in the crowding out of parts of some of the tribes
who were forced to seek new homes on the islands and in Asia Minor.
Actual history of those remote ages does not exist ; for the poetic fancy of
the Greeks wove out of their heroic past, as it were, one beautiful poem. It is
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ARYAN AND SEMITIC ELEMENTS IN GREEK RELIGION. 1 39
only by the coincidence of names, traditional rites, and conceptions, and the
study of the preserved monuments, that a few kernels of fact have been rescued.
In the religion of these races the higher, more spiritual elements are trace-
able to their old Aryan ancestry, with whom light was the power that brings
life and strength. . It was pure and good, and the gods of light were the benefi-
cent protectors of mankind : they fought the storm-clouds and spirits of dark-
ness, and punished man for deeds of darkness. Accordingly, among the
Greeks their peculiar gods, Zeus and Apollo, had in character much in common
with Vedic and Zend-Avesta mythology. So, also, minor spirits first received
their character from the inhospitable steppes of Central Asia, where storm-
clouds battled, and locust-swarms darkened the sky ; and these beings seem to
have been retained, but ennobled and individualized, by the Greeks. The wild
horse, roving in herds, swift as the wind, or fleeting cloud, stimulated the
Aryan fantasy to take him as a chosen symbol in art and religion ; '77 and so,
too, in Greek mythology and art, the centaur, the satyr, the winged Pegasos,
Iris, the Erinys, and the black Demeter of Phigaleia, have at base the equine
idea. '78
The Pelasgians, according to tradition, worshipped at Dodona one highest
god, Zeus, but without images. Moreover, they brought offerings and prayed
to many " nameless gods." Hesiod tells of thirty thousand immortal watchmen
of Zeus, wandering through the earth, doing his bidding ; and it seems most
probable, that in the people's fancy the poet's great ethical host, these "name-
less gods," were polydemoniacal powers lower in grade than Zeus, and inherited
from an Aryan ancestry, but giving rise in time to gods of a higher standing.* 79
As these received names, they doubtless became Hermes, Poseidon, the
Dioscuri, Hera, Hestia, Themis, the Charites (Graces), etc. Even Apollo
and Athena must have been later and beautifully individualized members
of this great host ; but Aphrodite, we know, was a stranger, imported from
thoroughly foreign shores and peoples. It is, moreover, a significant fact, that,
in the earliest extant monuments, not Zeus, but his symbols alone, such as the
double-headed axe, appear, as well as the animals of daily use dedicated to him,
especially the horse, and beings of composite character, doubtless representing
those numerous lesser powers dreaded by man.
Besides the distinctively Aryan elements in the early religious concep-
tions of Greece, there are others of a Seipitic cast. Many such flow from the
strictly physical conception of nature as generative, and are connected with
rites of extreme asceticism and bloody human sacrifice on the one hand,
and unbounded licentiousness on the other. The worship and attributes of
Kybele, of the Ephesian Artemis, and the Cypriote Aphrodite, may be traced
back to the Eastern goddess of fructification, and, doubtless, became known to
the Greeks through Phoenician traders and settlers, as well as through their
neighbors in Asia Minor. Many heroes, such as Adonis and Melikertes, were
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HO EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
ready-made heroes, imported directly to Greece, whom the Greeks adopted
These Aryan and Semitic elements were, however, in time purified and en-
nobled by the Greeks ; the Aphrodite (Astarte) of the Phoenicians became the
incorporation of all loveliness; and the armed priestesses of the East were
transformed into the poetically attractive Amazons.
Around the beginnings of plastic art in Greece hang the clouds of legend-
ary obscurity. Even in Homeric song the earliest inhabitants of the land are
giants of an older day, and the sculptors and cunning artificers of the past are
the gods themselves, — a tradition prevalent among the Greeks down to later
times. Tradition tells us, that, before human shape was given to the gods,
an older era passed when symbols, such as a tree, an uncut stone, or an un-
hewn log, were set up and worshipped. Even long after Greek temples had
been peopled with beautiful forms, these sacred relics were regarded as pecul-
iarly holy. The thirty pillars at Pharai were regarded as statues of so many
gods. In a temple at Kyzicos was reverenced a triangular pillar, which
Athena herself had presented as the first work of art. Even at Delphi, Apol-
lo's most sacred shrine, a pointed column continued to be his holiest symbol.
At Samos, Hera was represented by a board; and Athena, at Lindos, by a
rough beam. The continuance of such primitive forms down to a late day,
alongside of more perfect ones, is an important means by which the stream
of art may be traced up to its sources.
About the personality and characteristics of the artists of those very remote
ages, the gay web of myth has been so closely spun, that it is well-nigh impos-
sible to trace any sure threads through its fantastic texture. Generic names
of strange demoniacal amd superhuman beings, the Kyclops, the Dactyli, and
Telchines, seem, however, to point to Asia Minor and the islands as the earliest
seats of artistic activity and development. The Kyclops came from Lykia to
Argolis, there to build the massive walls of Tiryns and Mykene. The Dac-
tyli (skilful fingers) worked principally for Rhea Kybele, the great goddess of
Phrygia, that land whose mountains were rich in metal, and whose river-sands
glittered with gold.^^® They are met with on the coasts also, working on the
Trojan plain and at Miletos. They pass to the islands, appearing on Rhodes,
Cyprus, and Crete, as well as on the mainland of Europe. The Telchines,
those magician artists, so near of kin to the Dactyli that the names of some
are interchangeable, are fabled to have been the discoverers of iron, and seem
to have belonged to Crete, Rhodes, and Lykia. ^^* They appear also in Sikyon
in Greece itself. They combined the character of sorcerers, priests, and artists,
who incurred the vengeance of Apollo, and were slain by that god. They are
even reported to have fashioned the forms of the gods, and their activity seems
to indicate some improvement in working in metal which may possibly be con-
nected with the first traditions received from the Orient."^*
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DAIDALOS. 141
Besides these nebulous constellations, one name is so often mentioned, that
the temptation has been to consider it as standing for an historical artist.
This is Daidalos, the traditional contemporary of King Minos of Crete, builder
of the labyrinth at Cnossos, creator of most varied works of art, descendant
and friend of gods and heroes, and founder of Cretan and Athenian art. Most
varied works were ascribed to him, while all agree that the material in which he
worked was wood. Indeed, he is said to have invented the instruments for
working it, — the saw, axe, borer, and glue.'*3 The name Daidalos seems, be-
sides, to be symbolical of progress. He was said to have loosed the limbs of
the gods, and to have opened their eyes, which, according to pious myth, had
been closed on acts of human wantonness. Orpheus had, by the magic strains
of his lyre, miraculously tamed the brute creation : but Daidalos accomplished
the still greater wonder of giving life to the wooden block ; so that, as the old
writers say, his statues " must needs be bound, lest they walk." It is said that he
represented the mighty Heracles so that the hero was deceived by his own like-
ness. Seeing the image in the night, he believed it to be alive, and flung a stone
at it. But these legends show how thoroughly mythical is the character of
Daidalos. Such he was, even to the Homeric poets ; since in the Iliad we read,
"And there famed Hephaistos also made a dance, — a maze like that which
Daidalos once contrived for fair-haired Ariadne." ^^4 In fact, the very name
" artist " stands clearly for a class rather than for an individual : to this name
are also attributed extensive architectural works, not only in the Greek islands,
Italy and Sicily, but also in far-off Sardinia, and even Egypt. Later genera-
tions kept, as a sacred trust, in their temples, small wooden statues, which they
reverently showed, as the work of Daidalos* hand, to the traveller Pausanias,
who lived about 160 A.D. To him they seemed strange and uncouth, — the
very beginnings of art ; but in veneration for objects of worship so very an-
cient, he says, that "there is a certain inspiration of the god which pervades
them." '85
Happily we are not left to vague myths alone for our knowledge of art
activity in those remote pre-Homeric and Homeric ages, long before the ap-
pearance of attested historical characters. Around the few isolated monu-
ments, standing out alone in the midst of that nebulous past, may now be
grouped numerous often less pretentious remains, discovered within the last
twenty years in Asia Minor, the islands, and Greece itself. Thus the cele-
brated Lion Gate of Mykene, and its equally mysterious neighbors, the so-called
Treasuries of the ancients, may be looked upon as parts of one great, although
complicated whole, whose connecting-links, thanks to discoveries, at last join
on to the artistic traditions of a later and better-known day. In these remains
we have the humble seed out of which should spring, little by little, the glori-
ous plant known in its perfection as Greek art, one strong branch of which was
sculpture. This branch is, however, so intimately connected with the root and
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142
EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
trunk, that, at the outset at least, the treatment of sculpture cannot be divorced
from that of the other arts.
These ancient monuments, now so varied and numerous that it is well-nigh
impossible to sum them up in a short space, comprise cyclopean fortifications
and tombs with carved entrances ; sculptured tombstones ; countless trinkets
in gold, ivory, and glass paste ; weapons of plain and of rare workmanship ;
utensils, vases, and the like, of coarsest clay, and of finest gold and bronze
wrought out in artistic forms ; besides engraved stones, soft and hard, — these
small objects being laid away for the most part with the dead, in tombs which
vary with locality and age.
The greater part of these very ancient graves with remarkable contents
have been discovered in Argolis : but they are also scattered along the whole
east coast of Greece, facing the islands and
Asia Minor; and it is most probable, that,
when these latter have been satisfactorily ex-
cavated, other tombs will come to light. Ob-
jects similar to the contents of these graves
are found in numbers on many of the islands,
especially Thera, Rhodes, Crete, and Melos.
The crudest in form of these graves in
Greece are five excavated by Schliemann in
1876, on the acropolis of Mykene, and a sixth,
discovered by the Greek Archaeological Society
in 1877, all still glistening with their precious
contents, and accompanied by most primitive
sculptural tombstones, or stele, one of which
appears in Fig. 68."*^ That these tombs of
Mykene have a greater antiquity than the en-
circling cyclopean walls, the well-planned for-
tifications of a powerful dynasty, is evident from their primitive build, — a plain
shaft sunken into the ground, in the midst of a circular wall, — as well as from
the fact, that the cyclopean walls, on reaching this circle, deviate from a regular
line, and make a curve parallel to the space around the graves, thus clearly
indicating the earlier existence of the latter. '^7 These tombs seem to have
been intended, not for single individuals, but for a common resting-place of
generations ; and it is evident that the grave was opened afresh with each new
burial, which may explain the intermixture of the objects laid away.
But more conveniently built for such successive burials, and far more impos-
ing in architectural ensemble^ are those tombs having a dome-like roof, and con-
taining a circular grave-chamber (tkolos), like the so-called Treasury of Atreus,
a plan and section of which is given in Fig. 69. The roofing is formed by lay-
ers of stone, projecting one beyond the other, until they meet JR^t^t^)©^^?
Fig 68. Stele tliscooeretl at Mykene.
MOST ANCIENT TOMBS.
143
a beehive shape to the building. The doorway is often somewhat ornamented,
and always opens into a long, narrow, roofless passage-way {dromos)^ which was
safely closed up with a mass of debris after each burial. The most celebrated
of these dome-shaped tombs, the Treasury of Atreus, has a vault 14.64 meters
(48 feet) high, and a highly decorated entrance. Within^ this spacious apart-
Flg, 09, Plan anti Section of the ao-ealM Treaaury of Atreua at Mykene ireatored},
X. Plan of the Treasury of Atreus: A, rock-cut chamber; B, doorway; C, dnmot.
a. Section of the above: B, doorway: C, dromos filled up with earth; D, slope of the ground;
£, wall on north side of approach; F, Untel-stone; G, door to rock-cut chamber.
ment was partially lined with plates of metal ; and at the portal, which had a
crowning triangular space, stood strange columns, which, as recent research has
shown, contrary to former opinion, tapered toward the base.^^^ These columns,
thus resembling closely the one separating the lions of the "Lion Gate" at
Mykene, are, however, much more elaborate, having both curious shaft and
capital, which was formerly considered the base, covered with spirals and other
designs carved into the stone (Fig. 70). Three other similar dome-shaped tombs,
but less rich, near Mykene, are yet unexplored ; another negir^thg neighboring^
144 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
Temple of Hera was opened up in i878.'89 In 1879 a similar building at Menidi
in Attica, which, happily, had not been ransacked, was most thoroughly and
carefully excavated under the direction of Lolling, and yielded many small
objects in gold, ivory, gems, etc. '90 In 1881 additional light came through
Schliemann*s excavations at Orchomenos in Boeotia, of a similar, but more
elaborate structure. Here were discovered numerous fragments of metallic
plates, as well as the nails which fastened these linings to the stone ; and, in
addition, a square chamber ofiE from the majestic tholos, which had a flat roof of
greenish calcareous schist, carved in elaborate combined patterns of spirals and
what seem lotos-buds, surrounded by a border of rosettes. »9«
At Spata, near Hymettos, other tombs were brought to light in 1877, carved
into the living rock, where an attempt seemed to be made to imitate the dome.
Happily, many most interesting fragments of ivory carvings and the like were
found here also.^92 The rock-tombs at Nauplia, on the slopes of Mount Pala-
midi, excavated in 1879, were much less richly furnished, and had evidently
been despoiled of their more precious contents. '93
To the ancients of historic times, these structures, with their massive
masonry, glittering gold, and precious contents, were a mystery. Strabo calls
the grottos at Nauplia the work of the mythic Kyclopes ; and, according to
Pausanias, the ancient Greeks regarded the colossal structures at Mykene and
Orchomenos as the Treasuries of Atreus and Minyas, mythic kings of their
heroic age.*94 But the discovery of many skeletons in these structures which
had never been opened, as at Menidi, shows most conclusively, that these were
the burial-places of many generations, and that the jewellery served to adorn
the dead, and the vessels to contain food, drink, and sweet-smelling perfumes ;
besides, much else was found necessary to make comfortable these last dwelling-
places. That all these buildings and the most of their contents are, moreover,
the products of a long and slowly developing civilization which flourished
before the Homeric age, is now well-nigh conclusively proved. *95
But how puzzling the contents of these graves, how strange the devices
met with, how astonishing the amount of gold, especially at Mykene, and of
carved ivory at Spata and Menidi ! Better to understand their varied artistic
character and relationship to later art, let us cast a hasty glance at the con-
tents of the Mykene graves now collected in the Polytechnicon at Athens, and
then, following Milchofer's masterly guidance, trace the most apparent affinities
between the different objects and those found elsewhere.
In the Mykene graves, primitive golden masks, amusingly realistic in their
rendering of the form, were placed on the faces of the deceased, thus following
a very prevalent tendency among mankind. ^96 The chests of the dead were
covered with a breastplate of the same rich material, decorated with designs
natural to malleable metal, such as spirals, winding lines, points, and imitated
nail-heads. Broad diadems and girdles, all of gold, growing nanpwer at
CONTENTS OF MYKENE TOMBS. 145
ends, and covered with similar forms, encircled the heads and bodies. The
arrangement of the hair must have been most elaborate, as the bands and rib-
bons of gold seem to indicate. Many hundreds of single and double buttons,
carved in wood, or sometimes in alabaster, and coated with thin gold through
which the design appeared, were scattered about the bodies. These buttons
were, doubtless, set in rows on to the garments, and on to long wooden sword-
handles. There were, besides, spangles of gold to be sewed to the garments ;
clasps and pins, with designs of deer, lions, sphinxes, griffins, eagles, polyps,
cuttle-fish, etc. Chains and hangings of thinnest gold-foil were hung about the
bodies, while above and around them bits of gold were scattered in profusion.
There were also found solid, finger-rings, and large, bead-like objects of gold,
evidently parts of necklaces, into which lively scenes were skilfully cut'97
Besides, there were genuine engraved gems, perhaps intended to be mounted
on a swivel-ring, or form parts of a necklace, and serve as amulets. Sword
Fig. 70. Seulptyrtd Capital and Fragmtnt of Column from th§ so-oalM Trea»ury of Atreu8. MykMB.
blades and hilts richly decorated, as well as scabbards and vessels of gold, silver,
and bronze, some of which are in very exquisite workmanship, were also found.
In the fourth grave, there were twenty silver vessels, thirty-two copper caldrons,
and one hundred and forty-six swords, large and small. Some of the latter, at
last cleaned, have revealed most elaborate workmanship, and quaint, but agree-
able, designs. An ostrich-egg, having dolphins of alabaster fastened on to it,
was found in one grave ; and a few sporadic objects in crystal, amber, ivory,
and glass paste, were scattered throughout the graves. Ivory and glass paste
are, however, rare at Mykene, but very common in the later tombs of Menidi
and Spata. One remarkable object which has attracted much attention, is a
steer's head of silver, with hollow, gilded horns. '98 The mouth, ears, and eyes
were also gilded ; but, of this gilding, only the layer of copper over which it
was applied now remains. A graceful rosette is attached to the forehead, and
a ring fastened to the neck indicates that this head was intended to be sus-
pended. From its similarity to objects brought by foreigners — probably Phoe-
nicians— to an Egyptian king, as represented in a grave at Thebes, it may
possibly be the work of this people, but as yet is not fully explained.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
146 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
There were also found very many objects of cruder material, fragments of
vases in clay, either unglazed and in dull colors, or having a brilliant finish.
They are painted with geometrical designs, in which straight and broken lines
and circles with tangents play a most prominent part : man, and the animals
necessary to him, such as horses and deer, likewise occur in crude and equally
geometrical shapes. '99 Much of this pottery is decorated with subjects taken
from sea-life, such as polyps, shells, nautilus, sepia, fish, and waves, as well as
long-necked water-birds. There is occasionally an intermixture of natiu-alistic
leaves, and the like ; while now and then a motive has strayed among them
which must have come from the Orient, such as the close-beaked griffin, the
lotos-bud, and palm-leaf. The importance of these rude wares lies in the close
resemblance of their decoration to that of the gold and other wares found at
Mykene ; indicating that all these objects belong to one common art-family,
which has only within the last ten years been revealed to us. Moreover, the
occurrence of nautical subjects on these oldest vases is of the greatest impor-
tance in locating their origin, which is thus traceable to a maritime people liv-
ing on many of the islands of the JEgean, especially Thera, Melos, Rhodes,
and Crete, where such vases have been found, and whence they must have
been exported in great numbers to Mykene. ^°°
Summoning up before us these varied and peculiar products of a most
remote antiquity, is there any thing which bids fair to give birth to that unique
art of later days called Greek, so essentially independent in its character of
foreign types? or should we see in this perplexing group a conglomerate
of elements borrowed entirely from the older Orient? In this bewildering
array of gold, silver, ivory, bronze, and gems from Mykene, other parts of
Greece, and the islands, Milchhofer has been able to trace several distinct
elements, and show, that while receiving from the Orient, and gold-lands of
Asia Minor, a most decided impulse, there was, nevertheless, on the islands a
peculiar artistic capacity, which, absorbing into itself foreign elements, was
able to combine and improve them, and thus produce an art di£Eerent from
that of its older neighbors, and full of inner life, out of which should in
time to come be developed the creations of a perfect Greek art.*^* Among
these islands, Rhodes, Melos, and Thera, no doubt, played a part ; but Mil-
chofer believes that Crete took the lead. Tradition makes this island the
home of Minos, the first Greek ruler, and of Daidalos, the first Greek artist ;
and many myths, connected especially with Zeus, are traceable to this spot
These shadowy data, however, for the early importance of Crete and its art,
still await confirmation by excavations.*^*
Among these monuments of earliest times, first and foremost is a large
class of engraved gems, humble, unpretending "island stones," as they are now
generally called, found in largest numbers on Crete. They are discovered also
on the other islands, and the mainland of Greece, especially in the Pelopon-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
"ISLAND STONES."
147
nesos, but are apparently foreign to Asia Minor. ^^^3 Professor Newton, realizing
the importance of these stones long years before others heeded them, collected
a very large number, now to be seen in the British Museum. Similar stones
were purchased by the Berlin Museum in 1880; and many others are scattered
through other collections, or are still floating about in trade. These gems
are either in soft stone, principally steatite, or in hard stones, such as sard,
agate, jasper, or chalcedony, the latter kind showing the most advanced art.
They are all pierced, as though to be strung. The two principal shapes are
those of a flattened round pebble such as would be found along the seashore,
and of a plum-pit. Other varieties, including three or four sided prisms, or
round balls, are rare, and evidently of later date, but show the same family
of designs. A few of the more advanced show subjects borrowed from the
Orient, such as the lion, sphinx, griffin, etc. ; but the greater part have scenes
which might be taken from daily life on the islands or the European continent,
and are naturalistic in character ; others have purely geometrical decoration.
Fig, 71, EagroMd Otm witk Sifm-
bolteai Rtprwntatlon, Proomi*
Fig, 72, fjigravMf Otm with KoM-
b^arlng Flgun, possibig Mt,
Cr9t9,
Fig, 78, EngravHl B§m with out of
tht Earllttt Rtprttontatlons of
tho Torturoil Promotkoya, Creto.
The animals native to Europe — cattle, goats, deer, roe, dogs, long-necked
birds, doves, and eagles — are most common ; but polyps, ships, war-scenes,
and the excited hunt, also appear. It is worthy of notice, that these subjects
are not composed into the space with the mechanical symmetry so charac^
teristic of Oriental art, but seem to fill it out naturally.^^aa Thus, is a deei
made to occupy a tiny gem, a lance pierces it ; and its limp but crude members,
"a living episode, as it were, of the hunt," fall naturally into the confined
space. The same is true of more complicated war or hunting scenes, as repre-
sented by one of the Mykene gold rings (No. 334, Schliemann), the technique
of which resembles these stones.
The horse, moreover, plays a most important part in these gems, and
appears in such combinations with bird, lion, and locust, that these must
have a deeper symbolical meaning than the majority of subjects. One of
these monsters, appearing frequently, carries a heavy burden, in one case
(Fig. 71) clearly a dead steer or goat. Again, it bears a vessel, seemingly
for carrying water (Fig. 72). This latter figure has been ingeniously connected
with Hesiod's description of Iris, who bore water from the Styx in ^^Sffi^f^p^
148 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
vessel to the gods, preparatory to the great oath.*®* It is, moreover, a most
significant fact, that neither in Egypt nor in Assyria, where art is so full of
animal-headed beings, do horse-headed gods or spirits appear, a conclusive
reason for believing these winged equine monsters to be of other than Sem-
itic or Egyptian origin. Indications are strong, that they are the product of
Aryan fancy. To arrive at their significance, Milchofer has questioned the
earliest myths of the Greeks, in which the horse plays so important a part ;
and he believes, that in these gems are embodied in artistic form such
mythical conceptions. Such are the legends of Boreas, the Harpy Podarge,
Erinys, and even Iris, as well as of the winged Arion, Pegasos, the horses of
the Dioscuri, and the like, all of which are traceable to an Aryan source.
Similar conceptions appear in the Rig- Veda, and in the Hindoo religion, its
offspring, but are foreign both to the Semitic Orient and to Egypt, where
the horse plays no part in religious formulas. The Chimaira also, that mon-
ster combination of lion and goat, which likewise is nowhere met with in
Oriental art, is here traceable in the very process of format ion. ^^s But perhaps
most interesting is the fact, that the myth of Prometheus, among the oldest
of the Greek religion, and traceable directly through language to its Aryan
source, is also expressed on these gems.***^ In one most crude representa-
tion the offending hero stands, being attacked by a huge eagle : and in another
(Fig. 73) he sits with arms fastened behind him ; while the bird, the messen-
ger of Zeus, swoops down to inflict upon him the penalty for stealing the fire.
This bound Prometheus offers an artistic motive, clearly traceable in later art,
as seen on a bronze relief found at Olympia (Fig. 98).
Like the art of these gems are those products of metal technique, and of work
in clay, found in Greece, gathered under the head of "geometric decoration,"
in which the circle and its tangent are most essential elements. Not only the
same style of ornamentation, full of corners and straight lines, prevails in them,
but also the same types of animals and men. While the aspiring gem-cutter
and his fellow, the goldsmith, seem to take up new and naturalistic motives,
and in time develop them into pleasing compositions, as seen on the gold
rings and sword-blades from Mykene, the much humbler potter was evidently
far more conservative, and, indeed, became stereotyped in subjects and ren-
dering, as is evident in the case of that famous family of vases called the
" Dipylon vases " from the site of their first discovery, and well represented
in Athens in the Varvakion (Fig. 74).
There are, besides, crude red-clay vases stamped with most primitive
reliefs, discovered especially in Rhodes, but also in Crete, and even in Boeotia,
and having affinities with the " island stones." One of their peculiarities is
the frequent representation of the centaur, that particularly Greek monster. ^7
A wall of insurmountable difficulties rises before the investigator seeking
to distinguish exactly who may have been the people who gave birt
Digitized by ^ ^^
DESIGNS FROM WORKING IN METAL.
149
most interesting art. The general term Pelasgian, by which is understood
the earliest dwellers in Greece and the islands, who were, doubtless, of Aryan
stock, may, perhaps, best be assumed to designate them ; but it is to be hoped,
that further investigation on this line may throw new light upon this prob-
lematical theme.
But besides this lively naturalistic art, expressing itself originally by
crudely graving out its subjects on humble stones, and which for convenience
may be termed Pelasgic, there appear, among the treasures preserved to us,
other streams, with which it came in contact and intermingled. One of these
Fig. 74, ¥tU€ of tli9 Dtpylon Claaa. Taking tlit Body to the Burial, Utourning, and Procession of Cliarlots, repre-
sented in tlie Qeometricai Style. At/iens.
manifests itself in its peculiar and ruling ornamental tendency. Curving
spirals and countless disks are the main element, indicating an origin in work-
ing in metal. A very large part of the Mykene treasure, with its spirals and
winding lines, calls forcibly to mind the imitation of applied wire ; while the
small round disks, and pu£Fed-out, oval-shaped ornaments, closely resemble
shapes which would naturally be beaten out in malleable metal with the
hammer. There are, besides, a few designs which seem influenced by cut-
ting in wood, braided work, and woven stuffs. One great peculiarity of this
whole family of decoration is, that the forms are not reproduced mechanically
from dead moulds, but depend upon freehand drawing and carving, as is also
the case with the " island gems." The technique of this art, and its combi-
nations of luxurious winding lines, are probably traceable for their origin to
Asia Minor, that land so rich in metals, and settled by peoples belonging to the
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
I50 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
Aryan race, who were consequently near of kin to the early inhabitants of
Greece. It is certainly not mere accident that the famous decorations of the
tomb of Midas in Phrygia, as well as the gold-ware discovered by Schliemann
at Hissarlik, on the coast of Asia Minor, have some of the elements so marked
in this class of Mykene treasure : hence they have suggested for it the term
Phrygian. In the Midas tomb (Fig. 75) this metallic spiral has passed over into
stone ; but in the Hissarlik gold, now in Berlin, we see it in its genuine primi-
tive stage, where the wire spiral is not yet imitated in the metal surface, but
still actually applied to it. In the crude Mykene tombstones we have most
interesting samples of the influence of these spirals on working in stone, as
well as of the union with these metallic spirals of subjects peculiar to the
engraved gems. Thus, on one of these tombstones (Fig. 68) we are reminded
of the gems and their kindred gold rings by a scene in which a man riding in
a chariot is apparently chasing another, who carries a short sword ; while above
and all around this scene are spirals scattered over the stone.
But still other influences than those originating in the gold-lands of Asia
Minor must very early have had a share in developing the artistic fancy and
skill of the people of the Archipelago. These were the Oriental elements, both
Semitic and Egyptian, which must have come in largely through the Phoenicians,
and which appear either in genuine imported wares or in imitations not easily
distinguishable from them. These Oriental motives are Semitic gods and their
symbols, plants peculiar to the South, such as the palm-leaf, lotos and papyrus
buds. Thus, for example, as to the Oriental origin of the form of the nude
Astarte (Fig. 76), with hands to breasts, doves on her head and shoulders, there
can be no doubt, nor as to the curious figure of a female with a striped garment
in the midst of a luxurious but most symmetrical lotos ornament ; since simi-
lar figures appear repeatedly on Assyrian cylinders. On one island gem we
recognize at once that peculiar being which must have been imported from
far-off Chaldaea, in the fish-monster attacked by an active, struggling hero, who
is, doubtless, the prototype of the Greek Heracles. 208 One striking peculiarity
of this Oriental branch is, that moulds for pressing into and casting are the
means by which the objects are produced, showing a more mechanical method
than is evident in the pure Pelasgic or Phrygian families. The original t)rpes
of griffins, sphinxes, and perhaps lions, are from the Orient ; but the way in
which they are combined and applied does not necessarily point directly thither.
Many Mykene ornaments have two animals united into a composition resem-
bling heraldic devices. There were found at least seven representations of ram-
pant panther-like creatures, placed on each side of some symbol, a motive found
on earliest Lykian coins, the Phrygian tombs discovered by Mr. Ramsay, and
some " island stones." Five double eagles call to mind those on the rocks of
Cappadokia, although somewhat less conventionalized. This striking coinci-
dence between many motives in Greece and the earliest known to us from Asia
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
PHOENICIAN INFLUENCES.
151
Minor, is in harmony with the Greek tradition which traces to Lykia such fabu-
lous monsters as Typhon, Echidna, Sphinx, and Griffin, whose prototypes must,
however, have been received from the remoter Orient.
In Mykene, direct Phoenician influence seems scarcely evident ; but it is
marked in the later tombs at Menidi and Spata. In these latter places, ivory,
so much an article of Phoenician traffic, was found abundantly, but most prob-
ably had been reduced to artistic shapes in Asia Minor, the islands, and other
parts of Greece itself. An instance of this is that slab of ivory from Spata,
bearing an Oriental subject, a lion devouring a bull, rendered in a crude but
F\g. 75. Fa^de of the MIdaa Tomb, Phrygla.
lively manner (Fig. yy). The cunning displayed in piecing together these thin
slabs of ivory is so great, that even to-day the junctures are hardly visible.
This skill is also seen on a sword-handle found at Menidi, on which are carved
two lions standing on a base. Although unfortunately lacking the upper part,
these bear resemblance to the rampant lions of the Mykene gate. At Orcho-
menos foreign influence is most evident in the carving on the elegant ceiling
of the chamber adjoining the great tkolos (Fig. 78). Here regularly repeated
spirals, and designs of plants very like the lotos, immediately suggest an imi-
tation of woven textures, in which the patterns are necessarily constantly
repeated, as well as hint the peculiar technique of working in metal. Around
the edge of this design a row of rosettes gives an agreeable finish. This com-
plicated design gains its greatest interest, however, from its striking resem-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
152
EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
blance to the painted ceiling of an Egyptian tomb of the Eighteenth Dynasty
at Thebes (Fig. 79). What may have been the influences at work which brought
these designs employed in Egypt over into the very heart of Greece ? Did the
ancient carver have before him a piece of foreign tapestry, or other reminis-
cence ? or did he work with a mind full of memories of the Nile-land ? The
fact that this design was found in Boeotia, which, according to tradition, was
early visited by Phoenicians, warrants us in tracing their mediating influence
in these most intensely interesting decorations.
We have, then, it would seem, three well-marked classes of objects from
this very ancient time, — the Pelasgic, represented by the gems, and technique
of carving out, as well as by angular and geometrical lines ; the Phrygian, by
the system of decoration dependent upon the nature of metal, freehand also in
its execution, and luxurious in its line ; and the Oriental, mechanical in its
execution, and conventional in its types. But there are, besides, many objects
Fig, 78. Orltntal Qoddus In Preaatil QoU,
DiBCOvrad at My ken: Athena.
Fig. 77.
Slab of Caroett luory found at Spata*
Athens,
where these different streams meet ; and on many of the more advanced
objects, preserved to us from this very early age, these different elements have
become so organically united, as to form a perfect and agreeable whole.
Certainly that peculiar civilization must have attained a high stage of devel-
opment which could produce such sword-blades as that now in Copenhagen,
found on Thera,209 and the eight other blades, its companions, from the primi-
tive tombs of the Mykene acropolis, and now among the choicest treasures of
the Polytechnicon at Athens. Long after their discovery, a thick coating of ox-
ide was removed, revealing exquisite work and pleasing devices, which at once
raise our admiration to the point of enthusiasm. These eight blades, accord-
ing to Kohler's examination, vary in the manner of their execution ; but one
of their common peculiarities consists in the production of most pleasing
effects by the use of gold of divers colors. Sometimes they are a single
piece of bronze, with slightly raised decoration : sometimes the blade has thin
plates of gold inlaid on its sides, not over a millimeter thick, in which graceful
spiral ornamentation is engraved, like that of the Phrygian style. Others have
Digitized by CjOOQ IC
SWORD-BLADES FROM MYKENE. 15J
inlaid bronze plates, which were coated with a molten metallic mass of dark,
shining color, into which is introduced an ornamentation of thin gold-foiU
enlivened by graven lines and divers-colored gold, undoubtedly thus tinted
artificially.^'^ On one of these unique blades (Fig. 80), warriors are in combat
with lions. Two lions are already m flight, one looking back and growling,
as he leaves behind him the lances and arrows of the enemy. The third lion,,
sorely wounded, has turned upon the hunters, and, having stricken one down^
awakens our fears for the fate of the others. One hunter, protected by a
strangely shaped shield, hurls a lance from behind it ; another, with a differ-
ent shield hangmg from his back, likewise flings his weapon ; a fourth cowers,
and shoots his bow ; and the fifth, a figure larger than the rest, and filling up
the widest part of the blade, joins no less vigorously in the attack. The in-
tense action of these wasp-like hunters and fleeing lions gives an animation to
the tragic scene which is increased by the uncertainty of the issue. Here in
this limited space, so beautifully occupied and so full of intense suggestive-
ness, we have a true poem, far different from any thing we know of in the
schematic or straggling compositions of Egyptian or Oriental art, but very like
the scenes on the " island stones ; " and the same is true of the scenes decorat-
ing the remaining swords.^" On the opposite side of the blade, lions are pur-
suing gazelles. In these figures, as in those on another blade where three
lions chase one another over hills, about the manes and paws, the gold is of a
deep red ; in other parts of a whitish-gray tint, or of its own golden hue. On
another sword, wild horses, or perhaps asses, chase one another in frightened
haste ; and lions fall upon fleeing deer. On another we see a flowing, wind-
ing river, with its fish quietly swimming, the papyrus nodding over it, and
panther-like animals pursuing ducks along its banks, evidently a scene sug-
gested by the Nile, but very different in spirit and composition from any
Egyptian representation of the great river. In the lighter gold, which rep-
resents the river, graven lines are filled out with darker metal, to represent
the fish. Even drops of blood on the necks of the birds are given by red
gold ; and various colored gold distinguishes stamens, pistils, and stalks, pro-
ducing a pleasingly contrasted effect.*"
Whatever influence Egyptian technique may have had upon the artists who
produced these rare works, the details of subject, costume, and composition
are so like the gems found only on the islands and in Greece, as to make it
most probable that they belong to the same great class of art-objects, the prod-
ucts of a vivid fancy, moulding what it had received from other times and lands
into shapes of its own, and thus developing on the islands of the iEgean, in
these humble gems, blades, utensils, and pottery, those germs out of which
should be unfolded in time the full flower of Greek art.
Still later in the chain of this long development, but not different in
character, seem to be the colossal sculptured lions of the cyclopean fortifl
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154
EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
cations at Mykene, and the richly decorated £a5ade of the so-called Treasury
of Atreus.
These fortifications at Mykene, and at the neighboring *' well-walled Tiryns "
of Homeric verse, and these imposing tombs, are clearly the products of a very
highly developed civilization, and of a time when the power must have been
concentrated in the hands of a despotic dynasty, such as the house of Atreus
is pictured to have been. Well-laid-out roads, gigantic bridges, walls, and gates,
protected by casemates in the ramparts, reveal the well-planned and skilful
military engineering of the age, as has been so admirably shown by Capt.
Steffen.2'3 The acropolis of Mykene, surrounded by abrupt and gloomy gorges,
rises from the smiling plain of Argos, whence may be seen the islands glim-
mering in the distance. The Greek legend was, that the Tantalid Pelops came
over from his Lydian fatherland to Greece, there to found a new kingdom, thus
giving his name to the Peloponnesos. By his fabulous wealth, he succeeded in
Fig. 78. Part of Soutptureti Ceiling In Rook-out Chambor of
Qreat Tomb at Orohomonos.
Fig. 79. Part of Palntod Coiling of Tomb
in Thebos Egypt.
winning the poor inhabitants of the land, and in founding the new dynasty of
the Achaians, which numbered Atreus, Thyestes, and Agamemnon among its
last members. Mykene itself was said to have been founded by the mythic
Perseus ; and Pausanias declared, that these very walls were built by the Lykian
Kyclops, who were also the builders of the walls of Tiryns for Proitos.^'*
Girding the summit are those massive cyclopean walls of polygonal stone,
which Pausanias enthusiastically asserts vie with the pyramids as architectural
wonders ; while modern travellers have expressed hardly less admiration.
Over the lintel of a well-protected gateway in these massive walls, is the
celebrated relief of the lions which has given name and fame to this portal, as
the Lion Gate of Mykene. Here we see (Fig. 8i), standing with their fore-
paws on the elevated base of a curious column, two lions. As is indicated by
the muscles of the neck, the ruined heads once projected from the rest, and
doubtless yawned upon those approaching, like grim sentinels. The whole
idea of these monsters forcibly resembles that of the tomb-guardians of Phry-
gia (p. 132), but is far more artistic and architectonic in its composition.
There is much naturalness in the details, as seen about the folds in the neck,
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LION GATE OF MYKENE.
155
and in the leanness of the loins, like that
of beasts in their wild state. The whole
impression, however, is that of an inten-
tional deviation from nature. The com-
pact form of the lion has here become
long and slender ; the short paws are ex-
tended beyond their natural proportions ;
and the powerful, bushy tail is reduced
to a meagre size. By this means the
carving is wisely limited to an important
and confined space, and does not run wild
over the whole building, as at Boghaz
Keui (p. 127). Moreover, the details of
the relief are kept within a given plane,
and are far in advance of the primitive
Mykene tombstones (p. 142), where a
sense of adaptation to architectonic law
was, as we have seen, utterly lacking.
In these lions we have probably one
of the last great achievements of the He-
roic age. With the disturbances caused
by the wanderings of the Dorians and
other tribes, the golden dynasties of My-
kene must have fallen, and with them
the source of such great monumental
works. Consequently we are left again
to minor objects in which to trace artistic
activity. It is most probable, that soon
the Phoenicians came in greater numbers,
flooding the market with their cheap
wares, such as glass pastes and the like.
Possibly the older national elements had
thus a less favorable opportunity to ex-
press themselves, until long after, when
order within had been established, and
riches had in time been accumulated by
a flourishing colonization.
Turning from the monuments testify-
ing to the earliest development of art
on Greek soil, let us seek for indications
given us by the Homeric poems as to
the art of their day.
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156 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
The epics the " Iliad " and "Odyssey " are generally admitted to be the crea-
tions of the Asiatic and insular lonians of the ninth and eighth centuries B.C.^'S
They are reminiscences of an heroic ancestry ; but the works of art men-
tioned by the poets are, doubtless, what they saw about them every day, trans-
ferred by them to an earlier time, and applied to scenes of Trojan myth. In
the description of art-objects, the weapons and utensils with which they were
familiar naturally occupied the poets' minds. On Achilles' strong arm they
put a shield similar to what they had doubtless seen themselves, and describe
Phoenician cups like those from which they themselves may have drunk. That
the poets' descriptions are not mere imagination is strengthened by the tes-
timony of objects now brought to light in excavations. Does the poet speak
of ancient Tiryns as "strong walled," the antiquarian points to its Titanic
masonry, still standing. Does he put into the mouth of Telemachos at a
banquet in the palace of Menelaos these words, —
" See, son of Nestor, my beloved friend.
In all these echoing rooms the sheen of copper; **
And does he tell of Alkinoos' palace, where, —
** On every side beneath
The lofty roof of the magnanimous king,
A glory shone, as of the sun or moon ; "
" There from the threshold on each side were walls
Of copper leading towards the inner rooms," ^'S* —
we find his descriptions verified in the so-called Treasuries of Mykene and
Orchomenos, where the bronze nails that once served to attach plates of cop-
per still remain in the walls, and fragments of the latter are found in the ruins.
The gold and silver mastiffs guarding the entrance to Alkinoos' palace call
to mind the Mykene lions and the kindred figures of inner Asia. And when
the slender forms of boys are described,^'^ —
"In gold upon the shapely altar,
With blazing torches in their hands, to light
At eve the palace guests," —
we must believe that the minstrel had seen something suggestive of such
fancies as he wandered from one splendid court to another. Objects like
Odysseus' golden clasp, " a work of rare design, a hound that held in his fore-
paws a spotted fawn struggling before his mouth ;*' or like Heracles' "formid-
able baldric, on whose band of gold were sculptured marvels, forms of bears,
wild boars, grim lions, battles, skirmishings, and death by wounds and slaugh-
ter,"— seem to live before us in the finely executed weapons and engraved
gems now discovered.
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ACHILLES' SHIELD.
157
But most full and glowing is the account of Achilles' shield,*^7 forged by
Hephaistos' strong arm, " of impenetrable copper and tin, and precious gold
and silver," "its edge clasped with a triple border white and bright. A silver
belt hung from it, and its circles were five." This imaginary shield has given
rise to endless conjecture.**' Even Roman fancy busied itself with its repro-
duction, as is shown by a marble shield discovered in Rome in 1882, having
reliefs and seventy-five lines of the " Iliad " inscribed on the marble belt run-
Fig. 81. Hon Gate at Mykwe.
ning across it. In Homeric verse several shields are described like that of
Achilles, having concentric circles ; and many ancient shields from Etruscan
graves in Italy have the same general plan.**9
Immediately around the central boss was a ring, in which were " two cities
fair, and full of men,*' the one picturing peace, the other war : —
"In one were marriages and feasts :
Around the other sat two hosts
In shining armor, bent to lay it waste. The youths
Marched on with Ares and with Pallas at their head,
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158 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
Both wrought in gold with golden garments on,
Stately and large in form, and over all,
Conspicuous in bright armor, as became
The gods : the rest were of humbler size.*'
The strange demons, Ker and Eris, mingled also in the crowd. In the
following ring, —
" He sculptured a broad, fallow field
Of soft, rich black mould, thrice ploughed, and over which
Walked many a ploughsman."
*' All dark behind the plough
The ridges lay, a marvel to the sight,
Like real furrows, though engraved in gold.
There, too, the artist placed a field, which hiy
Deep in ripe wheat : with sickles in their hands,
The laborers reaped it."
And there -
^ The servants, underneath an oak,
Prepared a feast apart"
^ A vineyard also on the shield he graved.
Beautiful, all of gold, and heavily
Laden with grapes. Black were the clusters alL
The vines were stayed on rows of silver stakes,
A trench of cyanus round it drew he, and a hedge
Of tin round that"
** Young maids and striplings of a tender age
Bore the sweet fruit in baskets."
*^ Here also the artist wrought a herd of beeves.
High-homed, and sculptured all in gold and tin :
They issued lowing from their stalls, to seek
Their pasture, by a murmuring stream that ran
Rapidly through the reeds. . . .
** Two lions, seizing on a bull
Among the foremost cattle, dragged him ofiE,
Fearfully bellowing."
*^ There also did the famed strong-armed god engrave
A fair, broad pasture in a pleasant glade.
Full of white sheep, and stalls and cottages.
And many a shepherd's fold with sheltering rooL"
In the outer ring, —
** The famed strong-armed also wrought
A dance, — a maze like that which Daidalos,
In the broad vale of Cnossos, once contrived
For fair-haired Ariadne. Blooming youths
And lovely maidens tripping to light airs.
Held isLSt each other's wrists."
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HERACLES' SHIELD. 159
And finally, —
^ Last on the border of that glorious shield.
He graved in all its strength the ocean stream." >m
The varying color of these decorations, as the black earth and white sheep,
as well as the details, like grapes, which could have been produced only by
inlaid work of divers-colored metal, recall the sword-blades (p. 155) and a silver
cup of the Mykene graves, and suggest the possibility that the ancient poet
may have had before his mind such exquisite work, corresponding, both in
technique and lively subject, far more closely to this brilliant description
than do the coarser, more monotonous, Cypriote silver bowls, once all we
had which could serve to illustrate this shield. The subjects of the poet's
description are, moreover, far less fantastic than the fabulous heraldic mon-
sters, and monotonous figures of Egyptian and Assyrian gods, standing in
still rows on the majority of Phoenician bowls.
The spirit of the art on this Homeric weapon is that of a primitive peo-
ple delighting in pictures of familiar scenes, mythological characters being
most rare. But a shield of Heracles is described in Hesiod (about 800 B.C.),
which seems to show a slight advance upon the realistic subjects of Achilles'
shield ; since mythological scenes are frequently introduced. The surface of
Heracles' shield is composed of concentric circles, which were, however, alter-
nately broad and narrow. Thus the space seems to be more decidedly marked
ofiF, and the composition rendered clearer. In the centre was the snake-bound
head of Phobos, son of the war-god ; around it scenes from daily life, wild
beasts seizing cattle, swimming dolphins, representations of the four seasons,
Apollo, the Muses, Perseus, the Lapithae, and other mythological scenes."'
Thus the greater clearness of composition, and the happy mingling of myth
with common scenes, indicate an advance in poetical conception on the earlier
work. Moreover, the method of working metal on this shield — silver figures
in dresses of gold, silver centaurs with pine-trees of gold for staves in their
hands — calls to mind the work of the smith-god, Hephaistos, on Achilles'
shield, as described by the Homeric poets. The appearance of many-hued
figures on the Mykene sword-blades, as well as the peculiar subjects on the
"red ware" vases from Rhodes, find here also their analogy, and have been
shown by Milchhofer to belong to the great parent-stock of Greek art, enriched
by influences from Asia Minor. **^
The pleasing counterpoise of parts, shown by Brunn to exist on these
poetic shields, seems, moreover, a prophecy of that love of order and artistic
symmetry met with continually in Greek art of a later time, but quite foreign,
so far as we know, to the spirit of genuine Oriental work, whether Egyptian,
Assyrian, or Phoenician.
But twice do the Homeric poets allude to representations of the JKfi4s^Tp
igi "ze y ^
l6o EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
One of these was the Athena, upon whose lap the Trojan women laid a robe,
"many hued," and "glistening like a star.""3 Judging from the garments
which covered it, we may conclude that it was one of those primitive objects
of worship, clothed to give them lifelikeness. No notice of large statues,
independent of the architecture and sculptured in the round, can be traced in
the poetic creations of the "Iliad" or "Odyssey." The torch-bearing youths,
the gold and silver mastiffs, were clearly decorative, if not purely fantastic.
How highly Phoenician products were prized by the early lonians, is evident
from many passages. A richly embroidered garment, the handiwork of Sidon's
damsels, was considered the most beautiful of all, and, as such, offered to
the goddess. The wrought silver cup, " the prize of swiftness " at Patroclos*
funeral, " that in beauty far excelled all others known," was from " the cunning
hands of Sidonian artists," and was brought over the dark seas " to the Greek
harbor" by "the men of Phoenicia." Menelaos, when about to make a gift,
"a cup wrought all of silver, save its brim of gold," calls it the "choicest and
most precious of all that was in his house," adding, that it was given him by
the king of Sidon.
But that the Greek artist in that day had a character of his own, seems ap-
parent from the poet's distinction between foreign and native wares. Was
this simply on account of the helplessness of infant Hellenic art ? or did it even
then show signs of a higher, more ideal type ? The few monuments rescued
from that earlier age, which we have in part considered, and the enthusiastic
•descriptions of poetry, strengthen the belief that a spirit was already awak-
ened which should guide the hands of this younger people to imitate and then
excel the older craftsmen, and should teach them to mould forms of higher
import and truer beauty.
While the artist was thus still struggling with traditions and technique,
poetry was giving birth to new creations, and was purifying and elevating the
imagination of the people. The Homeric poets were revealing a world of
mythology and beautiful imagery, thoroughly Greek in character. Their vivid
language described scenes so graphically, and material forms with such natural-
ness, that they became plastic, standing out with statuesque power. The grand
and heroic deeds of men were elevated into the region of the godlike ; and, on
the other hand, the conceptions of supernatural themes received such distinct-
ness, that they seemed to become a part of human life. Thus was formed a
heroic mythology. The poet was giving the gods shapes, not monstrous like
those of the Oriental deities, but humanly perfect, so that Herodotos could say
that Homer and Hesiod had created for the Greeks their gods.^H With these
men, followed by the later poets, innumerable ideals were brought into exist-
ence, around which rich fancy and description threw their charms : thus abun-
dant material was prepared, from which the artist of the future, sculptor or
painter, could draw his inspiration.
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FORMATION OF ARTISTIC TYPES. l6l
But it is becoming more and more evident, that there were also slowly form-
ing a number of artistic types, which were adapted to the different myths, not
exactly as they were sung by the poets, but as they were current among the
people. Thus certain schemes, originating, it would seem, in daily life, came
to be used for mythic subjects, applied sometimes to one story or character,
and sometimes to another. Thus, a typical kneeling figure is sometimes
Heracles fighting with a dragon, and sometimes Achilles in the Trollos ad-
venture. These types developed at so early an age have, however, as yet been
little studied ; and it is probable, that from the old reliefs on the vases called
"red ware," as well as on those called " bucchero nero^' many secrets concerning
them remain to be revealed.
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CHAPTER XL
ART AMONG THE GREEK PEOPLES DURING THE EIGHTH AND SEVENTH
CENTURIES B.C.
The Greek Cities and Islands. — Corinthian Wares. — Colonization and Trade. — Coining. — Political
Changes. — Early Religion of Greece. — Influence of Poetry. — The Gods. — Artistic Growth.—
Altar Worship. — Significance of Votive Offerings.— Ancient Rites. — Their Influence. — Fabrica-
tion of Utensils. — Passage over from Oriental Forms. — Incrustation. — Bronze Relief from
Olympia. — Oldest Images. — Terra-cottas. — Individualization of the Different Gods. — Literary
Accounts. — Kypselos Chest. — Its Evidence of Advance. — Analogous Works. — No Images of
Gods mentioned. — Artists mentioned. — Dibutades. — Glaucos. — Improvements in Bronze Work-
ing.—Beginnings of Working in Marble.
As early as the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., a fringe of thoroughly
Greek cities skirted the coasts of Asia Minor, principal among which were
Kyme, Ephesos, Miletos, Erythrai, Phocaia, and Colophon. Of the Greek set-
tlements on the islands, those of Samos, Chios, Naxos, and Paros early gained
great importance; so also on Euboia, off the coast of Attica, Chalkis, — early
settled by lonians from the East, and famous for its valuable copper-mines, —
as well as the neighboring Eretria, became influential centres of trade. Nor
should we forget the island Delos, birthplace of Apollo, and from time im-
memorial sacred to the god of light. Thither came worshippers from distant
Ionia, Greece itself, and from the surrounding Kyclades, grouped, as it were, in
choral throng around the rocky clifif.
Crete, that most ancient focus of civilization, geographically so situated as
to receive impulses from all sides, and then to radiate them, was even to the
Homeric poets a hoary land. Although, in the political history of the centuries
following these poets, it seems to play a less important part, there is every rea-
son to believe that the artistic activities developed on that island continued to
work, exerting their influence, not only on the Peloponnesos, but also distant
Italy.^^5
In Greece itself, Corinth, conveniently situated on the sea, rose to pros-
perity and wealth long before Athens took any position in history. Crude
painted tablets discovered at Corinth, votive offerings hung on the trees in
Poseidon's holy grove, and now to be seen in Berlin, give us a picture of this
time. ^^6 On these objects are portrayed, in most primitive style, agricultural,
hunting, and war scenes, ship-building, sailing, gymnastic exercises, mining, the
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COLONIZATION, COINAGE, TRADE. 163
smelting of metals, and the fabrication of vases. In the neighborhood of the
spot where these tablets were found, the white clay of which they were made
is still to be seen ; and the now deserted shafts they depict, witness to the im-
portance of metal in ancient Corinth.
As early as 785 B.C., Ionian colonists from Miletos, taking with them their
religion and culture, settled on the shores of the Black Sea. About fifty years
later, still others took possession of the peninsula, rich in mines, to the north
of Greece ; and a century still later others founded Kyrene, in Northern Africa.
About the same time a new Greece was established along the shores of Sicily
and Southern Italy by colonists from the Asiatic coast, soon followed by others
from Chalkis and the mainland of Greece, probably bringing those metal
fabrics found so abundantly in Etruria, and now recognized as the works and
types of the early Greeks, and not of the Etruscans. **7
Trade, that most important factor in developing the material resources of
a land, was not at first carried on in the Greek world by the convenient system
of a well-regulated and officially stamped coinage. Rings of gold, pellets, and
small obelisks of metal adjusted to fixed weights, but probably without any
stamp to guarantee them, were, it seems, first used.*^^ The addition of the
official stamp creating coinage, and thus greatly facilitating trade, was probably
made by the wealthy Lydians during the latter half of the seventh century
B.C., a time when they ruled Western Asia Minor up to the very gates of the
Greek cities on the seashore. The metal which they used was not gold or
silver, but electrum, a mixture of the two, found in the bed of the Pactolos, and
other rivers of Asia Minor, and considered by the Greeks to be an independent
metal. Two standards are traceable in this early Lydian coinage, — one follow-
ing the Babylonian silver standard, and the other the Phoenician ; the former,
doubtless, having wandered to Lydia by land, and the latter by sea. ^^9 This
invention was at once adopted by the enterprising Ionian cities of the neigh-
borhood ; and most probably these lonians it was who improved upon the crude
Lydian method, substituting for primitive punches engraved dies, bearing an
emblem of the temple or city issuing them, and in time an inscription, and the
mark of the magistrate under whom they were minted. Among the Ionian
cities, Phocaia is said to have first issued coins ; but the invention was not long
confined to the Asia-Minor shores. It must rapidly have spread to Greece,
where, according to story, Pheidon of Argos was the first to coin money on
iEgina.230 Euboia and Corinth must have issued coin at about the same time ;
the rising Athens soon followed their example, the custom rapidly spreading
to the distant colonies : and thus, by a wide-spread colonization, and improved
means of trade, riches could be accumulated. From this primitive coinage has
sprung a world of art, which, beautiful in itself, has also proved invaluable in
throwing light upon the larger works of sculpture.
In state the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. were formative J^-^rtW'ip
l64 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
character. In the remoter antiquity the rule of kings seems to have prevailed ;
but in the wealthy cities of Asia Minor, and in Greece itself in all the states
except Sparta, royalty gave way to the oligarchical rule of the few ; and codes
of laws were framed accordingly, but in most of the Greek cities the rule of
the few was, by the seventh century B.C., in turn overthrown by men who,
emancipating themselves from the aristocracy, espoused the cause of the
commonalty, and through their aid secured the government in their own hands.
In Corinth, for example, the tyrant Kypselos, about 657 B.C., won the day
over the jealous aristocracy, and by this means came to play an important part
The exodus which followed resulted in the immigration into Etruria of many
workers in clay, who left their impression on the art of that land.
In looking at the early religion of the Greeks, we find, that though it was
undoubtedly associated with a binding ritual, yet the powerful priesthood, the
iron-bound formulas, the extravagant mysteries and superstitions, of Chaldaea
and Egypt were wanting. This greater moderation is a common feature of
the Aryan races in antiquity. Among the dwellers of the Punjab the invoca-
tion of the spirits, or spoken prayer, held an important place ; and, among the
Aryans of Iran, the mysterious power of the songs of the fire-priest was of
equal weight. So, with the oldest Greeks, the good hymns of the singer,
invoking deity, were equal to the offering itself ; and the profession of singer
passed from father to son. But even these sacred singers did not bring the
offering themselves. Each head of a household sacrificed for himself and his
family, the chief for the tribe, and the nobleman for his retainers. Thus priest
and people were one, as it were ; and even after extensive temples and large
property were set apart to the gods, and a large body of temple attendants
became necessary, still the separation between priests and people never seems
to have asserted itself as prominently as in other lands. There are, moreover,
signs that the singers purified and exalted the coarser fancies of the people,
and that the monstrous conceptions of a primitive age were ennobled into purer
ideals, which, in time, should have their reflex influence on the masses. Thus,
in the Homeric poems, as well as those of Hesiod, there is an evident omission
of the monstrous and revolting, where mention is made of the Harpies, the
Graiai, and Gorgon.^a" During these centuries the Homeric epics came to be
sung everywhere by wandering minstrels, the people becoming familiar with
their rich imagery. Other poets following sang in the Thebais, the Ethiopis,
and the graceful Kypria, deeds of gods and heroes in clearly human shape.
Now lyric verse, with its deeper feeling, slowly budded, and spread its fragrance,
in time supplementing the more purely external creations of the epos. In the
popular estimation the gods seem to have become, not the representatives of
blind forces, nor even the extravagant products of untutored fancy, but beings
full of life, concerned in the affairs of men, and intimately bound up with the
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEALS OF THE GODS. 1 65
legends of the land, and the fortunes of its noble families. These gods were
man's friends, approached with song and offerings. Conceived as not being
altogether mysterious, but possessing the virtues and even frailties of humanity,
they were regarded as subject to the same passions, and accessible to like
persuasive influences. They take sides in the conflicts of men, are excited to
anger and jealousy, or laugh at one another's infirmities.
Parallel with this stream, but more slow in its course, must have been the
effort to give material shape to the conceptions of the gods, as they floated in
the popular belief. Not suddenly did the artistic Greek fancy give birth to
that beautiful array of ideals with which we are familiar, but slow and sure was
the development up to these highest creations. That at first only the symbols
and attributes of the heavenly powers, and the forms of the lower spirits
(daimons), expressing the influence on the mind of natural forces, were repre-
sented, is well-nigh proven. We cannot follow the steps taken from these
rude beginnings up to the representation in human shape of the gods them-
selves, but we may imagine the primitive artist's delight and satisfaction in his
first rude attempts. It is a suggestive fact, that not the greatest gods, but
those nearer to man, and more mediatorial in character, seem to have been the
first to have been represented. Thus Apollo and Hermes, as we may see from
vases, attained expression long before the mighty Zeus or majestic Hera.
That, however, these different ideals did not originate in any one locality, is
most evident. Rather were they a simultaneous growth in many different
parts among the gifted younger Greek peoples.*3*
But the earliest worship of the Greeks, following that of their kindred, the
Pelasgians, centred about open-air altars, from which the smoke of the burnt-
offerings arose in grateful incense to the gods. That such imageless worship
was the first, and long maintained itself in Greece, appears from the recent
excavations at Olympia, For centuries Olympia was a sanctuary without tem-
ples, a great altar-seat. ^33 There the numerous layers of ashes, extending far
below the historical buildings, testify to this ancient sacrificial worship. In the
oldest of these layers are lacking all images of the gods, although their sym-
bols are found. These altars were not only places of sacrifice, but formed cen-
tres for the deposition of votive offerings, which seem to have been hung upon
the trees, or laid upon the altars.
The significance, moreover, of very many ancient works of art throughout
Greek history, only finds its explication in the custom of setting apart from
every thing a portion to the gods. Not only of all that the gods had them-
selves bestowed, but also of the means by which such blessings were obtained,
something was thankfully devoted to them.234 They included a great range,
from the richest objects of personal luxury, jewels, and raiment, down to
humble utensils used in daily life. Offerings once dedicated could never be
used again for profane purposes. The tithes set apart as ex veto's were usualhi
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1 66 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
presented in the form of a work of art, instead of the actual produce of land
or trade. Thus, for instance, in thanks for their multiplied flocks of goats,
the Elymaians consecrated a bronze goat at Delphi. ^35
Although the sacred altar origfinally formed the centre where these gifts
were deposited, as excavations at Olympia prove, in time separate treasuries
were erected to contain them. The altars themselves have disappeared ; but
the finding of innumerable votive gifts, scattered in the deep layers of ashes,
is one of the most interesting results of the excavations in reference to this
ancient worship. In the lowest and oldest strata of ashes were found mainly
tiny bronzes and terra-cottas, representations, not of deity, Zeus or Hera, but of
the worshipper himself, as charioteer, rider, or warrior. Most frequently the
useful animals, the horse and ox, accompanied him. These finds are especially
interesting as showing us, that in Olympia, at least, the early suppliant did not
offer at the shrine images of the god or his sacred animals, which would have
been for Zeus the eagle. The worshipper presented instead his own image,
and those of the animals necessary to daily comfort.^36 These very crude fig-
ures, found in immense numbers, are supposed to date from as early as the
eighth century B.C., and may have been the origfin of the later custom at
Olympia, of dedicating to deity figures of the victors. The Greeks of the
later day appear to have ennobled the old tendency by limiting the privilege of
presenting a statue to those who were worthy of it. This custom of dedicat-
ing to deity the worshipper's own image does not seem to have been originally
a Greek idea, but is traceable to the Orient. The prevailing custom in Cyprus,
of representing the worshipper, was kept up long after art in Greece had
mounted to higher regions. It is a fact worthy of notice, that none of these
primitive riders and charioteers so abundant in Olympia are found in Attica,
the home of the pre-eminently ideal art of later times, but are found in large
numbers in Boeotia, Rhodes, and Cyprus. *37
Nor did the altar ever lose its significance in the Greek religion, while the
temple and its statuary were often of secondary importance. In solemn proces-
sion, as the poets picture them to us, the worshippers approached the altar with
choral and responses, awakening the spirit of devotion. When they had formed
around it, and the smoke of the offering ascended, then sounded the hymnos.
About the place of sacrifice they circled in rhythmic dance, accompanying the
music, and giving expression to the emotions roused by the hymns. At the
festivals to the Pythian Apollo, the dance of the boys recalled the combat of
the youthful god with the dragon Python. The dances were not confined to
the simple movement of the feet, but called into play harmoniously the whole
body in untrammelled motion. Accompanying these offerings were also com-
petitive games and contests, in which the best and strongest took part, — time-
honored festivals, by which they thought to please and honor the gods.
How early and how deeply the ancient Greeks were influenced by these
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UTENSILS FOR ALTAR-WORSHIP. 1 67
rites and impressed with their beauty, is hinted by the fragment of a Homeric
hymn, thought to date from the end of the eighth century B.C.^38 In it, after
referring to the many rites beloved by Phoibos, the poet sings, " But Thy heart
delights most in Delos, where the lonians, in long garments, gather with their
children and worthy wives. Thinking of Thee, they rejoice in the game of
boxing, in dance, and song. Whoever comes thither where the lonians are
gathered, might easily believe them immortal and unchangeable : for he would
see the grace of all ; and his heart would rejoice at the sight of the men, and
their beautifully girded women, at their rapid ships, and rich possessions. To
this comes a g^eat spectacle, the fame of which can never die, — the Delian
virgins, the handmaidens of Apollo, first singing to him a song, and remem-
bering the joyful arrow-bearing Artemis and Leto. Then they praise the men
and women of the heroic past, charming the children of men."
For the purposes of this altar-worship, numerous utensils were required,
which came in time to assume finely wrought and graceful shapes. Thus, Apol-
lo's shrine at Delphi is pictured to us, by Theopompos,*39 as adorned in earliest
times, not with figures in human form, but with vases and tripods of metal ;
his statement being confirmed by the recent discoveries on many ancient sites.
At Olympia innumerable fragments of most primitive tripods were found, the
parts riveted together by nails, and decorated with those geometrical designs
frequently occurring in very early art, and here classed by Furtwangler in a
special family.*4o j^ addition, pieces of large metallic vases were brought to
light, which were decorated vrith the heads of griffins or lions. Such large vases
were sometimes hung up by these figures attached to the rim, and sometimes
rested on elaborate standards, parts of which have also been preserved. From
the sites where these objects were discovered, and from comparison with the
earliest painted vases, their date has been fixed approximately as the eighth or
seventh century B.C.^4« In many points they remind us of Phoenician wares,
but are evidently improvements upon the monotonous creations of that purely
imitative people. It is still undecided where they were manufactured, but pos-
sibly it may have been in Crete, or the Peloponnesos itself. We also find here,
mingled with these Greek wares, unmistakable Phoenician works. Among the
latter is a bowl of hybrid style, like those found on Cyprus, having the figure
of the Chaldaean goddess with hands at her breasts, in combination with Egyp-
tian gods. Another fragment is a silver relief, on which puffy, winged animals
are scattered unpleasantly over the surface. «42
The glimpse which we obtain into the art of the seventh century, through
these monuments discovered at Olympia, reveals to us the Greek artist wres-
tling with the Oriental patterns he had about him. Furtwangler has admir-
ably shown, by comparing the Olympia griffins (Figs. 82 and 83) with those of
the Phoenicians (Fig. 60), how the Greek during the seventh century had re-
moulded so humble a motive as the griffin's head, a subject received originally .
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1 68 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
from the Semites. We see the prosaic Phoenician design become an independ-
ent, if not beautiful, creation. The griffin's beak is fiercely opened, his bald
head crowned with large ears, and his tame wings are now changed, and made
to curl boldly upward. ^43
Other fragments of bronze relief found at Olympia seem also to tell the
whole story of the passage of Oriental technique and forms to Greek soil, and
the development there of an organic national art, which gave expression to its
own peculiar inherited types. We have spoken of the various ancient methods
of metal-working, hammering into hollow moulds, stamping designs on to thin
sheets, and lastly, the most artistic of all, the hammering-out of the desired
composition with a free hand {sphyrelaton), a technique which will be seen always
continued to be practised, and was carried to its highest perfection in such
great works as the bronzes of Siris, now in the British Museum, one of which is
to be seen in the Selections from Ancient Sculpture supplement-
ing this work, Plate XII. That these Olympian plates of beaten
metal did not exist independently, but served for the incrustation
of wood, and perhaps sometimes of stone or terra-cotta, appears
from the wood in several cases found still clinging to the frag-
ments. We must imagine these metallic fragments as still cover-
ing sacred objects, in order to conceive the impression they
originally made. This was the case with a large bronze relief
found in Olympia (Fig. 83), ninety centimeters high, and thirty-
-« ^ . five centimeters wide, once the cover of a standard. It is placed
Fig, 82. $rtffln'§ ^
H9tut in Bron29, by Curtius in the latter half of the seventh century B.C.^44 The
found at oiynt' surface is divided into four rows of varying width. On the
upper row are three eagles, — two confronting one another, and
a third belonging to a second pair, but sundered from its mate. This device,
although reminding of the heraldic figures of Asia Minor and tl^e Mykene
graves, shows us the noble bird more freely treated, and is tolerably successful
in rendering nature. In the second row the Oriental griffins approach one
another with fiercely opened jaws and curled-up wings, after the true Greek
style ; while the background is dotted with points suggestive of the influence
of the weaver's art. These two rows of purely decorative figures are, however,
subordinated to the representations of a hero and a goddess in the remain-
ing rows. The old, meaningless, decorative style is yielding before scenes of
deeper import. Thus on the third row is a favorite mythic scene among early
Greek artists. A centaur is being chased by Heracles, who, according to story,
hunted through the forests of the peninsula whole hordes of wild centaurs. In
the true laconic style of ancient art, one tree here suggests a forest, and one
single centaur implies a troop. But how crude the monster's shape ! the
hinder half of a horse at full speed is joined to a full human figure, limping
and halting. Here Heracles wears as yet no Oriental symbols, lion's skin, and
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169
club, but, like any hunter, is armed simply with bow and shoft sword. His
short breeches remind one of the lion-hunters on the Mykene swords, and his
pose is similar to that of the archers there (Fig. 80). The wounded centaur is
also no Oriental creation, but, doubtless, traceable for his origin, as we have
seen, to the old Aryan symbolism, and has not yet been moulded by art into
an agreeable homogeneous whole. Below, on the broadest row of the relief,
is a goddess of strange character, probably Artemis, holding in each hand a
growling lion, over whom she seems to have won
the victory. The same scheme, in which birds
are held, appears on some of the island gems;
and there is much reason to believe, that here
we have not an Oriental, but a very ancient
Iranian, goddess, who, however, in this cruel and
harsh type, should not hold her own, but disap-
pear before the elevating and mollifying influence
of Greek art.245 It is a significant fact, that,
after the age of archaic forms, she disappears
altogether, but is met with again on later bronzes
and vases.
The oldest images of the gods were believed
by the Greeks to have been of wood. Often, ac-
cording to oldest tradition, they fell directly from
heaven to mortals, or traced their origin to mythic
heroes, like Danaos and Orestes. Ancient trav-
ellers describe them as sometimes seated, some-
times standing with legs stiffly united, arms
clinging to the sides, eyes tightly closed, and
as carrying attributes. Such idols were looked
upon as shrines in which the deity took up his
abode ; and the story was, that they sometimes
chained down the image, lest the god take flight.
A greater degree of life seems to have been given
these idols by a covering of paste and glaring
color: thus we learn, that Dionysos and Pan were painted red, and Athena
white. Many services described by ancient writers, as well as noticed in in-
scriptions, show that these images were the objects of a complicated ritual :
they were washed, clothed in gay apparel, and decorated with crowns, diadems,
necklaces, and ear-pendants. Often, in later times, a magnificent wardrobe
formed a part of the temple treasure. On the occurrence of the Panathenaic
festival at Athens, the old Athena was clad anew in 3,peplos woven by Athenian
women ; and at Elis the same ceremony was performed for the ancient image
of Hera. ^46 In addition to wooden idols, there seem also to have existed
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170 EARUEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
images in terra-cotta, equally primitive in their style. These figures of the
gods in terra-cotta statuettes, many of which are now in Athens, are sometimes
so formless, that it is difficult to trace in them the human figure.
Moreover, the different deities do not seem to have been clearly defined in the
older art, as we are accustomed to find them later. Thus, in the old terra-cotta
figures, all female deities alike have on the head a strange pad, which seems to
be a primitive stephane^ to indicate, perhaps, their sex. On a very old Attic
vase, although we read the name Athena over against a goddess, still she is
not individualized in attribute or form. '47 The modius, calathos^ and mural
crown, used later to distinguish the different goddesses, seem here all merged
in this one primitive coronet.^ The flower later appropriate to Aphrodite
was borne by figures accompanied by the lion and other symbols : the pome-
granate seems to have belonged as much to Athena and Hera as to Aphrodite.
Even in the oldest terra-cotta figures of Athena in Athens, now on the Acrop-
olis, the goddess wears under her helmet the polos ; and the head, which, ac-
cording to inscriptions, is a Hecate, receives a helmet, to become an Athena.*49
But as the local myths became more pronounced, and traditions clustered around
each god, their peculiar differences were marked in form and feature ; and sym-
bols emphasized their individuality, as is strikingly illustrated in the monuments.
So the Greek gods came to be more sharply defined in their thought and attri-
butes, and the same god assumed a new garb with every new shrine and local
place of worship.
From these nameless fragments of bronze tripods, standards, vases, and
crude tiny images, revealing the very early artists' efforts, we may turn to the
literary notices of monuments of a similar character, but enjoying a wider fame.
First in chronological order comes a monument from Corinth, that great
trade-centre of early days. This work is known as the Chest of Kypselos,
and was seen by Pausanias and Dio Chrysostom in the Temple of Hera, at
01ympia.'So It was said to have been consecrated in remembrance of the
deliverance of the infant Kypselos, who, having been concealed in it from
his foes, was thus preserved to become the future tyrant of Corinth (657-
629 B.C.). The work was probably executed much earlier than the days of this
Corinthian t)a-ant ; Pausanias conjectured that the epigram upon it was by one
Eumelos of Corinth, of about 760 B.C. It was of cedar, and decorated with
figures of gold and ivory, and with still others carved out of the wood. Very
ancient letters, difficult for Pausanias to read, accompanied the various scenes.
The statement that the figures were carved out of the wood, seems to indicate
that at least partial inlaying, after the manner of the Mykene swords, was the
technique used, and not mere surface application of the gold and ivory. The
chest appears to have stood against the temple-wall, and to have had cover, sides,
and front decorated.^so* Five parallel rows, probably of unequal width, one
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CHEST OF KYPSELOS. 171
above the other, consisting of mythological scenes, formed its decoration ; the
legends, as on vases, being attached in difficult archaic writing. The subjects
appear to have been taken from various poetic cycles following certain older
types. There were scenes from the myth of Pelops and Oinomaos, the varied
story of Amphiaraos, the funereal games of Pelias, and the attack of Menelaos
on Helen. The singing Muses and Apollo himself were pictured there, Atlas
carrying the earth, besides Ares armed, and Thetis followed by Peleus. Hera-
cles also was to be seen, struggling with the Hydra, and, again, fighting with the
centaurs, who had legs of man and horse, and some of whom had fallen. Be-
sides were many other mythic figures, one of which was an Artemis, holding in
one hand a panther, and in the other a lion, and wearing wings enigmatical
to the devout Pausanias. A parallel to this Artemis may be noticed in the
Olympia relief (Fig. 83), as well as to Heracles and the centaurs.
The fact that mythic scenes occupied the whole surface of this costly chest,
shows that poetry was fast crowding out the mere decorative art of older times,
and was throwing its halo about common and well-known types. The arrange-
ment of the scenes, according to Pausanias* description, shows, moreover, that
the whole was well planned, with that order and correspondence of parts so
characteristic of later Greek art. In the parallel rows, one above the other,
the centre seems to have been occupied by the most important groups, which
were balanced by others at the comers. Of the forms of its gods and heroes,
which must have been exceedingly rude, we may, perhaps, obtain some idea
from votive tablets of terra-cotta, and sheets of pressed gold, found at Corinth,
and now in the Berlin Museum, but as yet unpublished. The famous Francois
vase in Florence, covered with the same subjects as the Kypselos chest, and
accompanied by inscriptions in the early Attic alphabet, may indicate the style
of these old pictures in gold and ivory, and was doubtless imported from Attica
to Etruria, where it was found. *5«
A costly offering dedicated by the Samians to their goddess Hera, after a
successful mercantile expedition in 632 B.C., is said to have cost one-tenth of
the profits of the voyage, — six talents. ^5^ It is described as a colossal mixing-
vessel, having around the top griffins' heads, doubtless like those which deco-
rated the edge of vessels found at Olympia. Underneath were three immense
kneeling bronze figures, which it is difficult to picture to ourselves.
Thus the shadowy records combine with recent discoveries to show, that, in
those early days, a juvenile Greek art, remoulding time-honored motives, was
industriously beautifying caldron, tripod, casket, and sacred utensil, but ven-
tured little beyond this decorative field.
In literature, there is scarcely a notice of images of the gods as existing
before the sixth century B.C. One such, however, seems to have been a colos-
sal figure of beaten gold consecrated at Olympia, before Olymp. 38 (628 B.C.), by
some member of the Kypselos family. The story is, that, to defray the expense
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172 EARLIEST ART ON GREEK SOIL.
of this costly image, the wealthy Corinthians were compelled to sacrifice a large
portion of their property.^53
Of artists of this era after 700 B.C., a few historical names here and there
appear, connected principally with inventions. Of these men, Pausanias and
others give us but stray notices ; the gay web of tradition having woven around
them that veil of poetry so inseparable from Greek history. One of these early
names is that of Dibutades of Sikyon, who resided and worked in Corinth, and be-
came famous on account of improvements in moulding in clay ; in fact, was even
said to have discovered this art.^54 But that it had long been practised among
the Greeks is clear, since even Hesiod speaks of a figure of Pandora as having
been formed of clay. When, however, about the middle of the seventh cen-
tury, Corinth became a flourishing emporium for earthen-ware, improvements,
no doubt, were introduced ; and these were ascribed to the old potter of Sikyon.
He is said to have adorned the exterior of buildings with tiles in the shape
of masks, and to have added color to the pale material. Were such a piece of
painted terra-cotta decoration to be discovered near Corinth, light would be
thrown on Dibutades' achievements, such as recent excavations have thrown
on artists in Olympia and Sicily by similar works there found.^55
Another artist, one Glaucos, said by some to have been a native of Chios,
and by others of Samos, became celebrated in connection with working in metal
at this early date. According to Greek tradition, he discovered the art of weld-
ing or soldering iron, thus supplanting the more primitive method of riveting
together the different pieces. An iron standard by him, executed after this
manner, was seen by Pausanias in Delphi. ^5^ It had, he says, the shape of a
tower, larger at the bottom : on it stood a vase, or lebes^ of silver, decorated
with small aquatic birds and plants, and consecrated at Delphi by the Lydian
king, Alyattes. Glaucos' enigmatical tower-standard is more easily understood
since the late discovery of Phoenician bowls, and may be suggested by the rep-
resentation of the tower-shaped standard on a silver bowl found at Palestrina
(Fig. 62). The standard here supports a vessel, before which sits a figure in
Assyrian garb, perhaps a king, protected by the usual umbrella ; an interesting
fact, proving that the fashion of some of the Greek temple furniture, at that
early day, was probably borrowed from the Orient ; while the aquatic birds and
plants seem a direct product of the earlier native art of the islands (see p. 146)-
Working in metals was to be still more improved upon by Rhoicos and
Theodoros of Samos, who, according to the self-satisfied Greek tradition, in-
vented casting in bronze. On the neighboring island of Chios, the use of
marble is said to have been introduced by Melas, who lived as early as 660 B.C.,
and ushers us into the age when sculpture in marble, under the influence of the
gifted lonians, should enter upon its glorious career.
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ARCHAIC GREEK SCULPTURE.
FROM ABOUT 600 B.C. TO ABOUT 450 B.C.
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CHAPTER XIL
BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH OF SCULPTURE IN MARBLE DURING THE SIXTH
CENTURY B.C.: ASIA MINOR AND THE ISLANDS.
Introductory Historical Sketch. — Increase of Temple Structures. — Marble, Bronze, and Chryselephan^
tine Statuary. — Athletes. — The lonians. — Decline of Asia Minor. — Colonization. — Changes in
Society. — Characteristics of Art. — Geographical Division. — Ionian Art in Asia Minor and th»
Islands. — Artists. — Bathycles* Throne. — Bion of Clazomenai. — Endoios. — Monuments from.
Asia Minor. — Statues at Branchidae. — Temple Sculptures at Ephesos. — Sculpture at Assos. —
Lykian Sculpture. — Harpy Monument. — Character of its Art. — The Islands. — Naxian and
Parian Marble. — Artists. — Statues by Naxian Artists. — Statue found on Delos, dedicated to
Artemis. — Characteristics of these Naxian Works. — Colossus at Delos. — Small Bronze from
Naxos. — Bronze Patina, — Relief by Alxenor. — Statues from Thera. — Statues found on Delos..
— Contrast to Works Found at Athens. — Sculptures on Chios. — Archermos. — Statue of Nike.
— Artists at Samos. — Rhoicos and Theodores. — Theodoros' Works. — Samian Sculptures.
With the waning years of the seventh century B.C., and the beginning of
the sixth, art among the Grelk peoples seems to have assumed greater propor-
tions and more enduring form. Costly temples of great extent, in stone and
marble, were now built, whose ruins at Samos, Ephesos, Miletos, and Assos
testify to the activity in architecture along the Asia-Minor coast. The Temple
of Hera, at Olympia, gives evidence of the transformation, at this time, of older
wooden buildings into structures of stone. In sculpture, too, new life is evident ;
the perishable wooden material being slowly supplanted by marble, which now
started upon its career under the magic touch of the facile lonians.
Masters of name and fame now appear on the stage ; and marble monu-
ments abound, whose age is borne witness to by their primitive character, and
the archaic letters of their inscription s.*57 Decorative art and the construction
of costly vessels no longer chiefly employed the artists* attention, but marble,
bronze, and chryselephantine statues of the gods. Monuments found in the
ancient shrines testify to this encouragement of a higher art. The human fig-
ure, no longer a mere accessory, now assumes an importance, as far as we
know, foreign to the spirit of the Orient. In the course of a few decades,
statues, commemorative of the victorious athletes, begin to people the holy
groves at Olympia; the first, which were of wood, being put up, according to
Pausanias, towards Olymp. 59 (about 544 B.C.),258 from which time their num-
ber rapidly increased, the material, however, being changed to bronze. . r^r^ri\r>
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176 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
The Greek world during this century presents the spectacle of a ripened
civilization clasping hands with material prosperity. In the fore-front stand
the artistic lonians, favored by their natural gifts, and their closer intercourse
with Asia and Egypt. Ionian soldiers in the hire of Psammetichos had pierced
the heart of the Nile valley, and scratched their names on the colossi of Rame-
ses at Aboo-Simbel. At SaTs there was a vigorous Greek settlement, having a
commort temple and the regular worship of the Gr.eek gods. Here the mer-
chants from Miletos had their Apollo temple, and the Samians and i£ginetans
each their special shrines. Greek mercenaries, doubtless from the coasts of
Asia Minor and the islands, served under the Chaldsean Nebuchadnezzar
(604 B.C.), among whom was the brother of Alcaics, Sappho's poet-lover. The
intercourse of the Greek cities with the Lydian princes was a lively one. Aly-
attes and Croesus sent consecrated gifts, the works of Greek masters, to far-oflE
Delphi. But the rising Persian power now gradually spread westward ; and the
Greek cities of the Asia-Minor coast, towards the close of the century, felt its
encroaching influence, which forced their population to leave their homes, and
thus disseminate their culture westward.^59 Colonization still continued ; and,
from the older lands, there seems to have been an uninterrupted exodus to the
prosperous new states, with which an active commerce was kept up. Wares
from the mother-lands were exported, to be spread far and wide. Thus bronzes
and vases were, without doubt, sent to the colonies in Southern Italy, and even
to Etruria. The same is true of the trade of Corinth, for its vases have been
found in great numbers in Etruscan tombs. •
In the political world, although tyrants still ruled in many cities, the spirit
of freedom was fermenting in society. Polycrates of Samos (532 B.C.), and
Peisistratos of Athens (560-527 B.C.), by popular laws, were it only from self-
interest, served the well-being of their states, and encouraged what was attrac-
tive and beautiful. Philosophers began to ponder on deep and unknown
things. Pythagoras (530 B.C.), leaving the oppressive atmosphere of the
tyrant's court at Samos, removed to Croton in Southern Italy, where he soon
gathered earnest and enthusiastic scholars. At the same time Xenophanes,
from Colophon in Asia Minor, found a quiet home in Elea, near the bay of
Naples, and there expounded his theories, and established an important school.
The Homeric songs, transmitted orally from father to son, were, perhaps, now
collected, and committed to writing. Epic poetry was, however, a thing of the
past ; and drama, young and strong, now put on its mask, and mounted the stage ;
while lyric verse found a cordial welcome at the courts of the tyrants. There the
merry Anacreon composed his songs of love and mirth ; Simonides, from Keos,
sang the praises of the great ; and Lasos, from Hermione, instructed the youthful
and high-bom Pindar (521-441 B.C.) ; while Stesichoros, the great innovator,
who lived in Sicily, was equally at home in Hellas and Ionia. Athletic games
in all parts of the land trained the youth to graceful skill, and inured to hardship.
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This was a time when strength without arrogance, modesty and submission,
combined with noble pride, prevailed among the people. The faith in the gods
of their fathers was deep and sincere, inspiring to acts of devotion. Many are
the stories related which testify to a high tone of life and morals at this time ;
of sons who made great sacrifices for their mothers ; of mothers who offered
their sons for the welfare of the country ; the climax of this devotion being
reached in the heroism exhibited during the Persian war.
In art, there was corresponding life. Literary records, as well as inscrip-
tions, teach us that on the islands Chios, Samos, Naxos, Crete, and Paros, and
along the coasts of Asia Minor, the earliest historical Greek sculptors were
active, some of whom wandered to the mainland of Greece, there to practise
their calling, and, in one case at least, to gather together a large band of
scholars. Many of their works were executed for the very ancient shrines
of Ephesos, Samos, Delos, Delphi, and Olympia, where they were seen by
the ancients ; and, among the large number of monuments preserved, isolated
cases may be traced to these old sculptors. The artistic character of these
extant works varies greatly with the time of their execution and the place of
their discovery. Consequently both the chronological and the geographical
sides of the varied scenes they present must be considered, in order to catch
subtle and shifting peculiarities. If we look through the glass offered us by
time, we find that sculptures, which, as we know from their inscriptions, —
those sure gauges of age, — are the creations of the early part of the sixth
century, vary greatly from those of the latter part. Many monuments have,
however, no inscriptions ; and consequently variations in the style alone are
left to aid us in giving them their place in the great stream of history. But
greater crudity of style is not always a sure indication of age : since some
monuments executed at a late day, as we know, are as crude as those of an
earlier day ; instance Dermys and Kitylos, from Boeotia. Consequently great
precautions are necessary in dating monuments which have no inscriptions.
Local influences, arising from geographical site and race peculiarities, giving
a varied colpring to the creations of different parts of the ancient world,
claim a large share of our attention. While there is no doubt that artists
moved about, and that men from very different parts executed works for the
great central shrines now found together in what to us is perplexing confu-
sion, still there is reason to believe, that, as a whole, there were great local
peculiarities in the works of each section of the country. Thus, for instance,
the lonians, that race artistically so gifted, who were spread along the Asia-
Minor coast, and occupied the islands and northern parts of Greece and At-
tica itself, seem in these different parts to have worked differently ; and it is
one of the glorious tasks of modern archaeology, to trace out the affinities, and
discover the varying shades of coloring, in the monuments found on such dif-
ferent sites. By so doing, little by little our picture of those old days ^ins
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178 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
light and shadow ; and those monuments which, when isolated from native
time and clime, are mere bric-d-bracy meaningless curiosities, at once begin to
glow again with the life and interest of other days. We find, by comparing
them, that in all there is a feeling, more or less vigorous, after something
better, — a searching for the ideal and beautiful ; and these otherwise mute
figures reveal to us the strivings and aspirations of a gifted people, whose
fancy was subjected to most varied influences. The geographical element, then,,
being so strong, we may, in considering the monuments, attempt to combine it
with the chronology. We shall, consequently, take up the monuments accord-
ing to different sites, in each case considering them in order of age, and then,
by references back and forth between the different types and sites, attempt to
show great family resemblances.
Among the monuments preserved from the sixth century, those from the
coasts of Asia Minor and the islands, Delos, Naxos, Paros, and Samos, first
claim attention, inasmuch as these parts were the seats of the oldest culture^
and the homes of the earliest historical sculptors.
Along the western shores of Asia Minor, there are many indications of the
sculptor's activity in this century, when the old Ionian civilization was at its
height, and Miletos, Ephesos, and Samos played an important part in the
world's history. The evidence is not lacking, that this Ionian influence spread
southward and northward. The Ionian style of writing was adopted, even by
the Dorian people of Rhodes and Halicarnassos ; and Ionian art apparently-
flooded Lykia. Other branches of it seem to have been developed on the
islands and the northern coasts of Greece, and, indeed, to have been the
spring of artistic activity in Attica itself, that land destined to cast its
predecessors so into the shade, that the parent-stock has been well-nigh
lost out of sight. Recent important discoveries on the islands and in Asia
Minor are, however, slowly opening up this remote past, and showing us
its true significance for later times, by revealing the sources of their inspi-
ration.
Few, indeed, are the names of sculptors of this age preserved to us from
Asia Minor ; but they suffice to make an historical background for the existing-
monuments. One of these men, Bathycles of Magnesia, with fellow-workmen^
went over to Greece, to erect a throne for a very ancient Apollo statue at
Amyclai, near Sparta.*^ This throne was not for a seated statue, but for the
rude ancient pillar of bronze, with head, arms, and feet attached, the image of
the local Apollo possibly, represented on coins. ^^^ It stood towering 13.7^
meters (45 feet) above a sacred spot, the grave of Hyakinthos, a young prince,
said to have been a favorite of Apollo, and accidentally killed by the god in a
game. The throne of Bathycles corresponded in its proportions to the statue^
and was so extensive, that it could be entered and inspected like a dwelling-
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MONUMENTS FROM ANCIENT IONIA. 1 79
The figures and reliefs adorning it represented scenes from the lives of the
gods and heroes ; but Pausanias' description is so incomplete, that it is impos-
sible to form an idea of their material or arrangement.*^*
Interest attaches to this mysterious structure, since the subjects were taken
from the full-flowing stream of epic poetry ; although Bathycles also represented
himself and his comrade sculptors on the arms of the throne. We see in this
work sculpture at last brought into the more direct service of the god, no
longer merely decking a weapon or votive casket, but adorning the very throne
occupied by the representation of the deity himself. In thanks for the com-
pletion of this work, Bathycles erected a figure of Artemis Leucophryne, a
favorite goddess of his native land, as well as figures of the Charites, or
Graces. *^3
One Bion, from Clazomenai, is also mentioned from this time ; and on very
ancient statues found at Miletos occur the names of the sculptors Eudemos
and Terpsicles.*^
The sculptor Endoios also, although in tradition called Attic, and long resi-
dent in Attica, was, doubtless, a native of the older Ionian land. His works were
in several cities of Ionia. Thus a colossal figure in wood of Athena Polias, at
Erythrai, in Asia Minor, accompanied by marble Hours and Graces, in the
temple-court, as well as an Artemis at Ephesos, were all by him. He was,
however, like Bathycles, active in Greece itself; and his works appear in Attica,
where was found the pedestal of a tombstone statue, probably seated, of an
Ionian lady, Lampito, which bears this artist's name in an Ionian epigram,
and clearly proves his origin.*^5
First to be considered among the monuments found on Asia-Minor soil, are
those from the great Temple of Apollo, in the neighborhood of old and wealthy
Miletos, where there was a very ancient oracle of the god, over which presided
his reputed descendants, the family of the Branchidae. In 1857 Mr. Newton
was so fortunate as to discover statues and other monuments which lined each
side of the Sacred Way leading up to the temple, in the manner of sphinxes
and seated figures before Egyptian temples. This road, commencing at a short
distance from the Temple of Apollo, was traced for a distance of about 530
meters (580 yards), in a north-west direction, towards the ancient port Panor-
mos. On its discovery, it was bounded by basements, statues, and stone cof-
fins, many of which still remain.*^ The eight seated figures from this Sacred
Road, now in the British Museum, are, indeed, among the most important
specimens of early Greek sculpture in marble, and doubtless show us the
capabilities of the early Ionian masters (Fig. 84). Judging from the ancient
inscribed characters on their thrones, and from the very archaic cast of the
statues themselves, it is supposed that they were executed between 580 and
520 B.C. On one is to be read the dedication, "I am Chares, son of Clesis,
ruler of Teichiusa, an offering to Apollo;" and it is probable that the re-
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i8o
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
maining figures likewise represent devotees, perhaps priests and priestesses of
Apollo.
The pose of all these temple dignitaries is constrained and conventional :
the arms cling to the bodies, the hands rest rigidly upon the knees, and the
settled, unwieldy forms seem overburdened with fat ; while there is much about
the feet calling to mind Chaldaean statues (compare Fig. 4i).^^7 The elaborate
under-garments fall in narrow, perpendicular folds : the outer dress is laid in
broad parallel divisions, which do not suggest the massive bodies they cover.
But, on comparing these statues with one another, a most interesting advance
Fig. 84. Four of the Seated Statues from the Sacred Road near MIMot. Brtttali Museum.
may be noticed. The artists are feeling their way for something better in the
forms ; and the drapery in the latest member of the group, the first in the cut,
is in great contrast to that of the others.
Although these Miletos statues once lined a sacred way, after the mode of
Egypt; and although their bulky forms may suggest Assyrian types, like the
clumsy, flabby, seated figure of Shalmaneser, from Kalah Shergat, now in the
British Museum, — yet their greater naturalness and evident progress is strik-
ingly Greek ; and we may, doubtless, recognize in them, as in a kindred statue
from Samos (Fig. 96), what may be called an old Ionian style. In the Louvre,
also, there are several specimens of this old sculpture in marble from Mile-
tos. ^68
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SCULPTURES FROM EPHESOS. l8l
We may mention with these hoary remains, as also probable products of
this Ionian art, the fragments of sculpture discovered by Mr. Wood among the
ruins of the ancient temple to Artemis at Ephesos, and now in the archaic room
of the British Museum. This Asiatic goddess had early been adopted into the
Greek religion ; and her costly temple was built by Chersiphron, a Cretan
architect, doubtless about Olymp. 50 (580 B.C.), when wealth had been accumu-
lated in a largely developed commerce, and was being employed in building
temples, and making costly decorations.*^ The epoch-making Temple of Hera
was now built on the neighboring Samos, by the Samians Rhoicos and Theo-
doros ; and that of Apollo at Branch idae, near Miletos, received costly offerings,
even from Neco, king of Egypt, after his conquest of Josiah, king of Judah, at
Megiddo.
The expense of many of the pillars of the temple at Ephesos was borne
by the rich Lydian Croesus (560 to 546 B.C.), who also consecrated golden
bulls at this shrine. *7o The remarkable archaic remains there discovered by
Mr. Wood consist of a series of reliefs, and of fragments of lions' heads,
which once decorated the architecture. These lions' heads, though strongly
conventional, show much fire, and still have marks of the color, principally red,
that once enlivened their surface.
The most interesting, by far, of these sculptures are, however, the reliefs
with figures about life-size, which seem to be wrought upon the drums of the
temple-columns. The discovery was made by Mr. Wood, that the later Tem-
ple of Artemis, built in the fourth century, was also supported by columns
having the lower part sculptured in relief.^^i The archaic reliefs, circling a
circumference of about five meters and a half, correspond in size to these
later works; so that there can be little doubt that they supported the old
temple, and were, most probably, the very contributions made by Croesus,
and mentioned by Herodotos. Unfortunately, these ancient columns are so
badly injured that it is impossible to divine the subjects represented upon
them, only single figures being partially preserved. The prevalent custom
in Mesopotamia and Phoenicia of coating wooden members of the architec-
ture, such as columns, doors, or walls, with metal beaten out into artistic
shapes (called empaistic), spread, there can be no doubt, to Asia Minor ; refer-
ence being made to it, as we have seen, in Homeric verse. Another step was
the imitating in stone of such work ; and discoveries in Olympia show most
clearly, that, little by little, the more perishable material, wood, was being thus
supplanted in stone or marble, on which the protecting coating was, however,
not omitted. *72 These remarkable archaic sculptures from Ephesos, which
once surrounded the base of the old temple-columns, seem a reminiscence of
such metallic coating over the older wooden pillar, here, at last, metamorphosed
into marble. This influence of metal seems also evident in the style of these
reliefs. Their lack of vigor, especially in the rendering of tljj^jgyg<g,^m|j^^(^W[g
1 82 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
result of an attempt to copy the smoother surface of metal in the indurate
stone. Although more advanced than the older of the Miletos statues discussed
above, still they have the same flabbiness, and lack of energetic detail, and in
some cases, in addition, a high polish, like that of ivory. The abundant orna-
ments and the care expended upon the profuse drapery seem outgrowths of a
luxuriousness such as we know irofn literature characterized Asiatic lonians,
in distinction from their kindred of the mainland of Greece itself. The verj'
decoration of the base of columns with relief is itself an extravagance in orna-
mentation, a contrast to the simpler, more energetic architecture of Greece
proper, and also points to the strong influence of luxurious Oriental tastes which
appear to have tinged the artistic creations of Asia Minor down to latest days.
May renewed excavations on the site of old Ephesos teach us much more of
the ancient art of this important centre of Ionian civilization, and throw needed
light upon its tentative beginnings !
Turning to the north, we should find, that opposite smiling Lesbos at Assos,
according to tradition an iEolic colony, most interesting specimens of sculp-
ture, dealing with very archaic subjects, have been laid bare. The summary
researches of the French on this spot before 1838, when many sculptures were
removed to the Louvre, have been thoroughly continued by the Archaeological
Institute of America in 1881 ; but the full results of this latter expedition
await their complete publication, a temporary report alone having as yet ap-
peared.
These sculptures are in a coarse stone of the neighborhood, as has been
proved by the last excavations, and adorned the temple which stood on the sum-
mit of the old acropolis at Assos. They decorated, not only the metopes of
this Doric structure, but, contrary to all analogies in the architecture of Greece
proper, enlivened the usually plain blocks of the epistyle, directjy above the
massive columns, in the form of a disconnected frieze.^73 Long ago the great
Semper called attention to the fact, that these sculptures crowning the epistyle
could be nothing else than an imitation in stone of the protecting coat of
beaten metal applied to the wooden parts of primitive buildings. Semper
supported his theory by analogies from Etruria, that land where early Ionic
art had such great influence, and traced this practice back to its remote source
in the far East.*74 The subjects represented at Assos also support his theory ;
the wild animals of Oriental art, such as lions and sphinxes, and the Chal-
daean fish-monster, being here, although so interwoven with active Greek
myth, that the whole seems moulded into a new and independent creation.
In the blocks in the Louvre appear lions in the act of devouring deer, bucking
steers, winged sphinxes, galloping centaurs with fore and hind feet hoofed,
and many loungers at a feast ; besides, the serious contest of Heracles with a
semi-fish and semi-human being, doubtless the wise ocean-god Halios Geron
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FRIEZE FROM ASSOS.
183
{Fig. 85). From the tumult of the contest several small, frightened females
are fleeing.
The form of the sea-god is that of the comfortable Babylonian and Assyrian
fish-deity, but is here, as on the " island stones," so grappled with by Heracles,
as to present more than mere passive existence. This peculiar grouping seems,
moreover, to have been a typical mode of representation with the older artists,
who, as we know from the analogy of vases, long followed closely certain
received types. This very strained grouping, and attempt to represent in a
narrow space action which consequently becomes exaggerated, appear also in
a satyr of a frieze discovered at Xanthos in Lykia, and now in the British
Museum, where the horse-tailed satyr struggles with an animal, perhaps a boar,
in exactly the same pose as does Heracles with this sea-god. But how amus-
ing the means here used to fill out the whole space of the relief, and avoid the
vacuum always so abhorred by Greek relief! This is here accomplished by
Fig. 86. Part of FHtie from Tempit of Assos. Htraclta atruggltng with S^a-god, Louort.
giving the bended Heracles, the sea-god, and the figures reposing at a feast, a
height equal to the fleeing females and diminutive cup-bearers, even though
they thus become disproportionately large. Not the least important discovery
made by the American expedition was that of a scene from genuine Greek
myth, which formed a part of this varied frieze, and is still in Assos (Fig. 86).
It represents another of the deeds of Heracles, who, as in the Olympia relief
(Fig. 83), is shooting at centaurs fleeing before him. Unlike the other centaurs
from this temple, these, following the early type, have fully human bodies in
front : while Heracles, also following an archaic type, is still armed with his
bow alone ; the lion's skin and club of later art not being as yet adopted by the
sculptor. Heracles is here probably accompanied by lolaos, the faithful com-
panion of his troubled life, who follows with a drinking-cup, to indicate, per-
haps, the wine that maddened the semi-brutes, and led them to deeds of violence.
These scenes call to mind, not only in subject, but also in treatment, those on
vases of bucchero neroy found in Etruria, which seem the reflex of such genuine
Greek works.
Judging from the character of those Assos reliefs which are now in the
Louvre, they are the genuine products of an early and tentative art, and, in
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i84
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
the strange connection with the Doric architecture they adorned, appear to be
the efforts of a people beginning to feel its way to something better, but still
holding on to old received traditions. In view of such marked peculiarities, they
have been considered the work of the sixth century B.C. From the better exe-
cution of a very few fragments recently discovered, and from certain peculiarities
of the architecture as compared with that of Sicily, Mr. Clarke of the Ameri-
can expedition has, however, advanced the theory, that the temple and its sculp-
tures are the products of a late and provincial Asia-Minor school, and cannot
date from before the close of the Persian war, and perhaps may be assigned
to the first half of the fifth century B.C. Unhappily, neither photographs nor
casts as yet exist, from which alone those who have not seen the originals can
form an adequate judgment as to the artistic superiority of the few new frag-
ments. The large number of these sculptures, however, in the Louvre, present
a peculiar mode of composition, which very much militates against the new
Fig. 86. Part of Temple Frieze, Aaaoa, Heracles and Centaurs.
theory. Besides, it is questionable whether the analogy drawn between this
architecture of Asia Minor and that of far-off Sicily can be of service in decid-
ing the difficult question of age.
The recent discoveries at Olympia have shown, that in architecture the de-
velopment was very different at the same time in different places ; and it is most
probable that in Assos, close to the hearthstones of old Ionian culture, archi-
tecture developed earlier than in far-off Sicily. The facts, that during the early
part of the sixth century B.C., great stone and marble temples were being built
in Asia Minor and the islands, and that Assos, so far as historical information
goes, was then the largest and strongest city of the Troad, strengthen the
view that this highly decorated and ambitious temple to the gods was raised
during that early age of the city's prime. Even should it be granted that the
temple at Assos is of late date, its sculptures could only be reminiscences of an
earlier age ; and as through late Etruscan works we may gain a knowledge of
older genuine Greek originals, so these sculptures would only show us earlier
sources whence they were derived, especially as they have much in common
with the old red-ware vases found on Rhodes and elsewhere. But a sight of
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MONUMENTS FROM LYKIA. 1 85
the sculptures themselves, as well as a fuller knowledge of the details of the
architecture, will, we may hope, yet throw decisive light on this most interest-
ing question.
To the south of ancient Ionia, on the coasts of Asia Minor, lies Lykia, a
country which in Homeric verse plays an important part. It was inhabited, '
not by Greeks, but by a people near of kin, as their language shows. *75
It was a land of poetry to the Greeks, the home of their sun-god. The hills
and valleys teem with sculpture, for the most part connected with the tombs,
and were first made known by Sir Charles Fellows, in 1841. Many of these he
removed to the British Museum, and of others he brought thither casts ; thus
offering to the student a small and distinct art-world in itself. To this rich
material for the study of a civilization in many points closely resembling the
Greek, the Austrian excavations added still more, under the direction of Benn-
dorf, in 1882.
Lykia offers an art in many points akin to the pure Greek, but not of so fine
a quality as that which flourished in Greece itself, although superior, as far as we
know it, to the productions of the Cypriotes and Etruscans, which it somewhat
resembles. In its later stages, single sculptures, when sundered from their
many kindred monuments, have been adjudged pure Attic; while, in its many
archaic monuments, the strong influence of old Ionian art may doubtless be
traced. The latter was, in some respects, the parent of Attic art also ; and
these older Lykian monuments have even been attributed to Attic masters. *76
But Attica gained its importance in art-matters late in the sixth century B.C.,
and hence the probability is much stronger that Lykia was affected by the
direct influence of the neighboring and more early developed Ionia.
Among the fragments in the British Museum are pieces of sculptural deco-
ration for the architecture, made up of rows of cocks and hens, calling to mind
similar reliefs found in Olympia.^^; On one relief we see a quaintly exag-
gerated Bacchic dance ; and, in another, a frieze of wild animals of far older
style. Here a horse-tailed satyr is struggling with a boar-like animal : and the
composition, as noticed above, is very like that of Heracles and the sea-monster
of the Assos reliefs ; the animals also calling to mind favorite subjects of early
semi-Greek art. On a stone chest from a tomb we see, following the true
Oriental type, a man stabbing a lion ; but the workmanship lacks the perfect
technique of older Oriental monuments.
But by far the most extensive and interesting of Xanthos' older remains is
the so-called Harpy monument, a high rectangular tower, surmounted by the
burial-chamber, the exterior of which was adorned with reliefs in marble
(Fig. 87). That tombs of this kind were common in Lykia is evident from the
discovery of similar structures in the neighborhood, and at Gjolbaschi, where,
however, the archaic figures were sadly in jured.*78 Different explanations have t
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1 86
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
been given to the quaint reliefs on the four sides of this tomb-tower at Xanthos,
two of which are represented in Fig. 88. Professor Curtius finds in them a ref-
erence to the doctrine of immortality.*79 The milch cow over the entrance to
the grave, he believes, begins the series of pictures contrasting life and death,
and is symbolical of life-giving, nurturing force. The seated figures, on each
side of the door, are explained as goddesses, — the one being Death, the arm of
whose throne is supported by an ominous sphinx ; and the other Life, who holds
blossoms and fruit, and has supporting the arm of her throne a ram's head,
the symbol of the fructifying cloud. Three figures approaching her bring
offerings of an egg, a blossom, and a pomegranate, — symbols of the nascent
germ of life, its bloom, and ripe fruit. On the other sides of the tomb the
heavy, full form, thrice repeated, Curtius explains
as that of a throned divinity, receiving offerings
from friends of the departed, and as being the
triune god in Heaven, Earth, and the Under-
world of Graeco-Lykian myth. The little figures
borne in the arms of birds with faces and arms
of women have been explained as the daughters
of Pandaros being carried off by the Harpies,
who, as it is told in the " Odyssey," " came, bore
off the maids, and gave them to the hateful sis-
terhood of Furies as their servants." This de-
scription corresponds so poorly with the mild,
winged figures of this relief, having egg-shaped
bodies, that they seem more like good genii,
bearing away the little souls of the departed,
whom they press gently to their bosoms, and who in return fondly caress
their bearers. A diminutive female, tearing her cheeks in great sorrow, looks
up from the lower corner of one relief, and, doubtless, represents one of the
bereaved survivors.
But some archaeologists have entertained doubts whether this elaborate and
beautiful ethical interpretation of the Xanthos monument can truthfully give
the views of so early an age as the sixth century B.C.^^o The most recent
opinion is, that we see here the heroed dead, enthroned and receiving offerings,
as in reliefs found in Sparta, where inscriptions remove doubt as to the signifi-
cance of the seated figures.*^' In this Xanthos monument male figures receive
a helmet, a cock, and a bird ; and a seated female receives offerings of pome-
granate, egg, and flower ; while another extends her hand, as if awaiting an
offering.
The reliefs have peculiarities prevalent in archaic art, — long, primly pointed
beards, feet planted flat on the ground, a procession-like arrangement of the
standing figures, a dainty holding of the drapery and flowers, eyes in profile,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 87. View of tli9 Lyklan Tomb calM
tht "Harpy Monument.'
TOMB-SCULPTURES FROM LYKIA.
187
and a disproportionate size of some members. Their nearer analogies are
with the works of Miletos and Ephesos ; for, with all their quaintness, they
are not harsh and precise, like most archaic works from Greece proper. 282
There is about them a pleasing quiet and grace, as well as an adaptation to
the purposes of decoration, which take captive the eye. The figures seem
represented simply as they appear, without the subjection to plastic law seen
in the severer works of iEgina and Laconia, or in the lighter, freer forms of
Attica. The heavy forms of the throned divinities appear overburdened with
fat, and show no exactness in their build. Although the outlines of the backs
Fig. 88. Reliefs from Two SIdea of the totalled "Harpy Monument.' British Museum.
of the Standing figures are given, their limbs are not even indicated beneath
the heavy drapery, peculiarities met with iji the statues of Miletos. When
one leg is advanced, the other hip is entirely unnoticed, or indifferently indi-
cated. The same lack of plastic truth is evident in the hands and feet, which
vary at random iii size and detail. The round skulls are likewise of different
and uncertain shapes. The seated goddess to the right has what appears to
be only a flat layer of hair. Her ear is placed so far back as to be amusingly
out of proportion ; many of these defects not appearing in the cut, where they
have been reduced to correct propriety by the engraver. The female figures
are clothed in the long chiton of fine stuff, peculiar to the lonians, which has
long, buttoned sleeves, and, in the case of the seated figures, trails, falling
stiffly back under the thrones ; while over this robe the outer mantle appears
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1 88 ARCHAIC SCULFTURE.
in broad, regular folds. What at first seems ease in these reliefs is rather the
lack of that precision which makes the iEginetan marbles so eminently plastic.
(Sel., Plate I. and Fig. 1 19.) Although meeting the demands of simply decora-
tive art, this uncertain treatment throughout must give place to assurance, this
heaviness and laxity in detail must be banished, before. true and energetic plas-
tic forms can be produced. Unfortunately no inscription hints to us the date of
this monument ; but its composition and advanced style, compared with neigh-
boring inscribed works, such as those of Miletos, may allow us to place it as
late as the latter part of the sixth century B.C. What many of the charac-
teristics of this old Ionian art in Asia Minor must have been, and how greatly
it influenced far-off Italy, we are just beginning to learn through numberless
long unheeded, monuments in Etruria, among which many terra-cottas and the
too much underrated bucchero nero are most important.
Leaving the coasts of Asia Minor, and passing to the islands, we shall find
a rich harvest to reward our search. In the midst of the ^Egean are the
twin islands Naxos and Paros, the largest of the Kyclades, — mountains of
marble, towering up from the blue sea ; the quarries of Naxos being scarcely
inferior to those of world-renowned Paros. ^*3 By far the greater part of the
statuary discovered on the mainland of Greece, dating from before the age
of the Parthenon, is of this Parian or Naxian marble. Its export must have
contributed largely to the wealth and importance of these islands before they
were overshadowed by the glory of Attica. At least eight varieties of Parian
marble are distinguishable ; and as in olden times, so now the finest quality is
sought, like precious metal, by torchlight in the bowels of the earth, — a prac-
tice which gave origin to the name lychnites (^vxvitt/s), as applied to this stone
by Pliny and other writers. The shafts made to extract the precious blocks
follow the sinuosities and varying width of the marble veins, and are often
so tortuous and confined that it is difficult to understand how the ancients
succeeded in bringing out the blocks. The sight of many deserted slabs, still
in the quarries, shows that they sometimes miscalculated their ability. In
these ancient quarries, recently rq^pened by a Greek gentleman of Paros, the
tools dropped by the stone-cutters of old are still to be seen, and are found to
be like those used to-day. When first brought to light, the finest-grained
marble is said to be translucent, but with exposure becomes more opaque, and
gains a mellow tone fitted to give the warm glow, and soft, flowing appearance
of skin and muscle ; its tempting grain, neither too hard nor too soft, inviting
the artist's skill.
The earliest artists mentioned as from the twin islands Naxos and Paros
are but few, and their fame is overshadowed by later men.2^4 Byzes of Naxos,
and his son Euergos, appear more in the light of improvers of the technique
of marble than as sculptors proper. *^5 One of them boasts, that he was the first
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MONUMENTS FROM NAXOS.
189
to imitate clay tiles in marble. The name of another artist, Aristion from
P^oSy of this century, appears in Attica, inscribed on a monument discovered
near Athens. The name of Alxenor from Naxos is met with about the end of
this century in Boeotia, inscribed on a tombstone of Boeotian marble. At
Delphi has recently been discovered a pedestal with the rude feet of a statue
of Parian marble, which must have been executed in this century, so crude is
the workmanship. According to the inscription, it was executed by a Parian
master for a fellow-citizen, who consecrated this work to the
gods in Delphi. One Arkesilas and his father Aristodicos
from Paros are barely mentioned by the ancients, and, prob-
ably, also belong in this century. Arkesilas was a painter,
and perhaps also a sculptor. Thus, from these meagre re-
ports, it is evident that the Parian and Naxian masters of
this time enjoyed a considerable fame, and had much to do
in developing the art of working in marble in neighboring
lands as well as at home.
The oldest Naxian monument preserved to us is, doubt-
less, that unshapely image (Fig. 89) discovered in Delos in
1877 by Homolle, and now on the neighboring island My-
conos,^^ Its metrical inscription states, that it was dedi-
cated by a lady Nicandra, daughter of Deinodicos of Naxos,
to the goddess Artemis. It was discovered in a heap of
broken statues before the temple of Apollo, and measures
with its base two meters in height, impressing more by its
size than its artistic merit. Whether this column-like female
figure in long robes represents the lady Nicandra herself, or
the goddess Artemis, we do not know ; but it is very proba-
ble that it is this goddess, who was worshipped with Apollo
at Delos. In each hand she held some object, as is evident
from the holes; down her back her hair drops in a large
mass, in which broad, horizontal waves are indicated ; while
over her shoulders fall four curls, more like iiows of beads
than ringlets. So little of the female form is indicated, that we might be in
doubt as to her sex, were it not for the long but formless skirt. Originally,
however, it was not so plain ; since besides the inscription scratched into it,
are traces of seven or eight broad stripes of meander pattern painted on the
marble just below the girdle. ^^7 The shoulders have much the same width as
the skirt, from which the feet only just appear. The stiff arms cling to the
sidesy the upper part being even reserved in the marble. The torso has so
much the form of a flattened tree-trunk, the two sides alone being rounded,
that it is easy to suppose this crude work a copy of some old sacred wooden
xoanoftf one of which, an Aphrodite, was seen in Pausanias' time on Delos, and t
Digitized by VjOOQIC
Fig. 89. Statue conxe-
orat§d at Deios by Mi"
candra of Maxoa. My^
oonoa.
I90 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
reverently traced by that writer to Daidalos himself.**^ This mythical artist^
according to story, was active in Crete, famous as the home of such primitive
works ; and it is possible that the old Cretan works in wood, brought by the
earliest colonists from Crete to Paros, so rich in marble, may there have been in
time metamorphosed into the nobler material under the influence of the later
Ionian settlers. The very archaic forms of the inscribed letters on this ancient
offering of a devout Naxian lady, which are to be read from right to left and
from left to right in alternate lines {boustrophedon)^ enable archaeologists to date
this figure as early as 580 B.C., and perhaps even 600 B.C.**9
This crude figure is, however, as Furtwangler has shown, but one of a large
family, which, during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., were put up as
offerings to the gods about the very old shrine on Delos, and, doubtless, then
looked upon as great achievements. To us, however, they show the very
earliest attempts to represent in marble the female form wrapped in its drapery.
In one of these figures the breasts are intimated : another shows an attempt
to represent the sinking curve of the back, which features in the Nicandra
statue are lacking. A third is a modification of this crude scheme ; the left
arm being advanced, while the right still clings to the side. This statue is,
besides, interesting as having a broad meander border scratched into the
marble down the front, and, doubtless, intended to have color in its cavities.
It perhaps shows one step in the transformation of the painted or inlaid
pattern over into forms more suitable to marble, the ultimate attainment being
genuine relief. A similar process is observable with regard to drapery. Folds
are at first hollowed out in the marble, only later to be raised, and thus take on
a character truer to the actual appearance of nature. This process may be
traced on a series of archaic statues in Athens, as well as on several fragments
in Delos, in which the folds, from being hollowed out, become cord-like ridges,
and are finally flattened out to represent more truly the character of drapery. *9o
The fact that minor decorations, such as meander borders, ear-rings, necklaces,
etc., are not represented in marble in statues of the ripened age from Greece,
although appearing in these early works, indicates the development of a rare
sense for the truly sculptural in marble, — a sense which is not to be found
among other peoples, where every minor detail is unbecomingly passed over
into this dignified material.
But, besides this crude attempt of the early Naxians to render the draped
female form in marble, there are monuments showing their efforts to repre-
sent, in the same material, the nude male form. While the female statues may
represent Artemis, there is no doubt, in the light of inscriptions, that some
of the male statues show us her brother, the great Apollo, who was conceived
as the personification of eternal youth, and whose character incorporated the
noblest ethical tendencies of the Greeks. In the open quarries of Naxos, there
lies such a colossal nude figure, partially hewn from the rock, and doubtless
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
NAXIAN MONUMENTS.
191
abandoned on account of flaws in the marble. It is 10.60 meters high (34 feet) ;
and so ample are its members, that Ross and his party, overtaken by night, were
able to spread their beds and sleep upon them.*9i The figure was intended to
stand with both feet flat upon the ground, the left slightly in advance. The
arms hang by the side, but are advanced from the elbow, doubtless to hold
attributes. It may have been planned for the shrine at Delos, where its twin-
brother, following the same type, still exists, with an explanatory inscription
stating that the Naxians had dedicated it, and boasting that it was of a single
stone. 292 Two weighty fragments of the sadly mutilated colossus still lie pros-
trate at Delos, and another from the feet is in the British Museum. ^93 The god
here had long hair ; and the arms, clinging to the sides, were, as
in the Naxian colossus, raised from the elbows, doubtless once
holding attributes. Across the shoulders the width of the fig-
ure is 2.20 meters ; and on the flat, expansive chest, devoid of
all detail except about the collar-bones, a dance could easily
be performed. The traces of an ancient girdle are also evident
about the waist of this unwieldy and uncouth figure. The same
is found on many very archaic figures in bronze and terra-cotta,
found on Greek soil, as well as on some of the ancient " island
stones," where it forms part of a garment, like short bathing-
breeches.*94 The best-preserved sample of this costume is
seen on a small bronze from Crete, but we see it also on the
Heracles relief from Olympia (Fig. 83). It calls to mind the
reports about the oldest costume of men, who, according to
tradition, wore an apron-like garment, mentioned in connection
with the earliest athletes in Olympia, but which in time must
have given place to fuller, more becoming folds, doubtless
under the influence of the Asiatic lonians. It is surmised by
Furtwangler, that the original type of this nude Apollo from
Naxos wandered to the Kyclades from Crete, where the Daidalid artists were
active. Be this as it may, this colossus now at Delos, by reason of its cos-
tume and pose, is of greatest importance, linking the primitive tiny represen-
tation of a very old day on to the more ambitious efforts in marble, and showing
us the continuity of the great stream.
A great advance upon this colossus is a small bronze in the Berlin Museum,
originally from Naxos. It shows the same type, with raised arms, and is another
invaluable witness to the struggle going on towards the development of the
human form, and perhaps of the Apollo ideal (Fig. 90). On its pedestal, happily
preserved, an archaic inscription in hexameter puts into its mouth the words,
" Deinagore put me up as a votive gift to the far-shooting Apollo.*' ^95 This stiff
figure holds in his right hand what may be a pomegranate or a sacred utensil
such as is often seen being offered to Egyptian representations of deity. It has t
Digitized by V^OOQlC
Fig. 90. Bronie Stat-
uette from Maxoe,
probably of Apollo,
Berlin Ituteum.
192
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
also been thought to be an athlete's ointment-bottle, and, if such, to be symboli-
cal of Apollo's contest in the boxing-match ; *96 but the utter lack of other repre-
sentations of Apollo, as connected with the games, militates against this theor)'.
In the left hand is a hole, probably
A , ^ ~ ^ i — *- i^^^c^ded for the bow of the "far-shoot-
> — l^ J* /f ing Apollo." The advanced style of this
statue, as well as the shape of the inscribed
letters, would seem to place it at about the
end of the sixth century B.C. Here the
well-developed nude form of the long-haired,
youthful god, though still harsh and stiff, is
carefully rendered, and shows a long march
forwards, if not in time, certainly in excel-
lence, when compared with the Delos and
Naxos colossi having the same type. It is
very possible, that in such small size, and
in bronze, perfection could be attained ear-
lier than in the great colossi of marble. Let
us notice the surface of this quaint old figure
k BE-.-^^^y^'Sl'l^^ covered with an agreeable green patina^ like
^^^ /TY^ll \,it- TCio%\, Greek bronzes. The various color of
bronze works is owing mainly to the differ-
ence m their composition. The celebrated
modern works in Berlin, the shepherd at the
pond, the Bacchus in Potsdam, and the bust
of Germanicus in Charlottenburg, show that
a short time suffices to veil a good bronze in
a beautiful green patina. On the other hand,
an ugly black surface results when in the
composition there is a preponderance of zinc.
This metal, being uneasy in its chemical af-
finities, comes continually to the surface,
where it undergoes oxidization. Thus the
otherwise admirable equestrian statue of
Frederick the Great, before the Royal
Palace in Berlin, has a large proportion of
this treacherous metal in its composition,
and is now covered with a disfiguring black surface, which, whenever cleaned
away, carries with it finer details. *97
But to return to the marble works of this dawning age of Greek sculpture
on Naxos. In the quarries Ross discovered an unfinished nude male statue
of a slightly different type, which is now in Athens. In this figure the arms
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 91. Tombttone Rtlhf by the Naxian Alxen-
or, found at Orchomtnot. Athtna.
THE SO-CALLED APOLLO FROM THERA. 1 93
i
hang at the side, and the left foot is advanced, as in a large class of works found,
as we shall see, in different parts of the old Greek world.
That the Naxians had early developed relief as well as statues in the round,
appears from a relief by Alxenor, the Naxian, found at Orchomenos, but now re-
moved to Athens, in which it is evident that great advances in this direction had
been made by the latter part of the sixth century, to which time this work may
be attributed by reason of its quaint inscription and advanced style (Fig. 91).
On this tomb-monument a man about life-size, leaning on his staff, offers a grass-
hopper to his dog, who leaps toward it. This sculpture, although seriously
faulty, as may be seen from the strained position of the hand and the awkward-
ness of the dog, is pleasantly simple in its subject, and has many excellent points
in the rendering of the relief. The shoulder is truthful ; and the drapery, though
stiff, shows, in the folds about the top of the staff, an attempt to render the.
careless ease of nature. Alxenor's care is evident in the fine details of the bug,
the claws of the dog, and the hands of the man ; but the stiff curls, the eye in
full front view, and twisted position of the man, do not permit us now to admire
Alxenor's work as much as he did himself, when doubtless it was a great
achievement, as we may judge from his exclamation inscribed upon it, " Only
behold it ! " (dAA" ItriZiiret),^^
Turning from Naxos and Paros to the neighboring islands, we find that one
of the celebrated crude figures of the sixth century hails from Thera, although
the names of artists of this time are not preserved from this island. This
statue is now to be seen in the National Museum at Athens ; and its scheme
is exactly like that of the unfinished statue mentioned above, as found by
Ross in the quarries of Naxos. It represents an erect, beardless youth, whose
hands drop straight at the sides, and left leg is slightly advanced. This statue
has been called an Apollo on account of its long hair and nudity; but the
fact that it was discovered near graves, as well as the finding of still other
statues of the same build among the graves of Greece, also go strongly to
prove that this figure, at least, is a funereaL monument, and represents a
mortal youth standing near or on his grave.^99 The painful erectness of the
figure, the emphasis laid upon the bony structure of the frame, the lack of
flaccidity in its execution, as well as the long oval of the face, are its notice-
able features. We are reminded of the Egyptian custom of placing statues of
the dead in the grave ; and the advanced left leg, the hands at sides, erect
head, and build more bony than muscular, of this statue from Thera, suggest
Egyptian types. The possibility is not slight, that the Greek islanders may
have become acquainted with Egyptian works through the Phoenicians, and
perhaps Cretans ; but the entire nudity of this old Thera figure, and the care
expended upon the back as well as front, are differences so great from the
Egyptian forms with which the Greek islanders could by any possibility have
been familiar, that it may be called independent. Moreover, we find (hft^^lf ip
194
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
type so frequently repeated, and so widely scattered, that we may consider
these old Greek works as the more or less spontaneous attempts of primitive
artists.
In the centre of the Ionian Kyclades is Delos, the ancient and honored
shrine of Apollo. No school of artists is known to have existed here; but
numerous monuments in the marble of the adjoining islands, where they were^
probably executed, have at last been discovered. For years the ancient monu-
ments of Delos have furnished building material for the surrounding islands.
Thus, the Church of the Evanglisteia on the island of Tenos is built almost
entirely of such marbles. Fortunately, what little
was left in situ is of great importance for ancient
sculpture. Delos furnishes, not only quaintest tri-
pods, crude bronze oxen and horses like those, found
at Olympia, but the most important archaic inscribed
marble originals from Naxos and Chios, as well as
works of perfected art ; thus affording happy oppor-
tunities for watching the progress in the execution
of statues, both seated and standing, as developed by
the early lonians. A part of one seated female fig-
ure shows much kinship with the later statue of Mile-
tos, in the British Museum, and, while having a part
of the folds hollowed out, has others more naturally
and happily rendered, illustrating the gradual suc-
cess in developing drapery. Another series com-
prises many representations of a type very common
in archaic art, but each figure in some respect supe-
rior to the one that had gone before. These figures
seem, even in antiquity, to have been cast aside to
make way for new works, as is frequently found to
have been done also at Olympia. They were all brought to light on Delos,
with fragments of bronzes and vases, in a heap near what Homolle considers
the old temple.300 They represent art in every stage, from crude archaic up
to the perfected form, a standing female figure holding in one extended hand
an attribute, and with the other raising her quaint drapery. This is very full,
but laid in stiff folds. It consists of the long Ionic chiton buttoned several
times on the shoulder, and of an outer garment passed under the left arm, and
falling in a very regular ruffle-like border across the bosom. In one of the
older of these statues we see long, heavy locks falling down the back (Fig. 92).
We notice the especial pleasure the sculptor has taken in working out details
of drapery, each fold being an attempt to follow closely the underlying form ;
although, as a whole, the work falls far short of true ease and freedom of
expression. The contrast between the treatment of these statues, and much
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Pig, 92. Draped Ftmalt Figure dts-
oooered on DeloB,
ARCHERMOS OF CHIOS. 195
smaller ones of the same type found in the ruins of the Asclepeion at Athens,
and which had probably fallen from the shrine of Artemis Brauronia on the
Acropolis, is most instructive, and may perhaps point to the difference be-
tween the older Ionic art and its stronger, more beautiful daughter of Attica.
Some of these latter statues are now to be seen in the British Museum,
whither they were brought by Lord Elgin. The statues found on Delos are
large, full, and rather heavy ; while those found in Athens are small, precise,
and elegant in their execution. Who may be represented in the Delian fig-
ures, it is difficult to conjecture. It is natural to suppose that it is Artemis,
worshipped especially on Delos ; but the very same type occurs frequently else-
where, in connections where it is impossible to associate it with that goddess.
Moreover, we know that other statues of a very different kind were dedicated
to Artemis on Delos. So Nicandra's stiff statue and the winged figure of
Archermos were sacred to her ; and it seems, therefore, very possible, that
these standing figures of Delos are votive statues of " mortal maidens," per-
haps the Delian virgins mentioned in Homeric verse.3o» Other archaic monu-
ments of interest at Delos are, a very ancient type of Siren, its body fully that
of a bird, with painted, not sculptured, feathers ; a crude sphinx ; a part of a
horse and its youthful rider in very stiff style.302
From Delos our attention is turned to Chios, lying north of the Kyclades,
and near the Asia-Minor coast. This island was ^mous in antiquity for its
mines and its sculptors, and laid claim to the first use of marble for statues,
ascribed by the ancients to Melas, the head of a family of sculptors (see p.
172). Most distinguished among them were Archermos, son of Mickiades, and
his sons Bupalos and Athenis ; this union of father with sons in the accounts
of Greek artists having been shown by Hirschfeld to indicate that the father
was teacher also of the sons. 303 Of Archermos we are told that works by him
were to be seen on Delos and Lesbos, and that he was the first to give wings
to Nike, the goddess of victory.304 An anecdote recorded of his sons and the
poet Hipponax may give us approximately his date, the poet having lived about
the middle of the sixth century B.C. Archermos, accordingly, must have been
in his prime very early in that century. But the summary notice of his works
gives us no idea of the art of this master : in fact, his very existence would
be shadowy were it not for the remarkable discoveries by Homolle on Delos.
He found an inscription in very crude and archaic letters, with the full name
of Archermos and the fragmentary one of his father Mickiades, as well as the
statue belonging with this inscription, conjectured by Furtwangler to be the
very winged figure called Nike by the ancients. This inscription is cut into
what seems to have been a tall, plain plinth, such as Was used for mounting
very primitive works, and teaches us, according to the recently discovered frag-
ments, that the figure was consecrated to the goddess Artemis. 305 The statue
is of a female figure seventy-five centimeters high, and carved fully in Jhe
Digitized by VjOOv IC
196 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
round, in fine white Parian marble (Fig. 93). From its crude style, and its
cast of features very like the face of the so-called Apollo of Thera (p. 193), as
well as the characters of the inscription with Archermos* name, it must belong
to the earlier half of the sixth century B.C., confirming the date already in-
ferred from the story about Hipponax. Our statue is clad in a long, flowing
garment, which falls in rude folds between the legs, but about the waist fits
as tightly as modem corsets, producing an unnatural shape. Holes around
the marble band in her hair indicate that a diadem of metal once rested on
her head. A necklace of fine design is not painted, but carved in the marble
about her neck, imitating the ornaments of jewellery probably used on old
idols ; and metal ear-rings, as holes indicate, doubtless once adorned her ears.
Looking at her lean form in front, with one bared arm dropping at the side,
and the other advanced, but now broken, she seems to be moving rapidly. The
Fig. Oa. WIngtd Nlkt by ArchtrmoB of Chlo$. KfyoonoB, Fig. 94. Wlng9d Nlkt bg Arekermot of CkfoM.
mystery of her motion is, however, explained on viewing the back of the statue
(Fig. 94). Here the broken fragments of the two wings are visible which once
spread outward beyond her shoulders, and show that she is flying. Better to
appreciate her movement, we may glance at the figure as it would be accord-
ing to Furtwangler's proposed restoration (Fig. 95), which was made, however,
before the new part of the inscription was found, and consequently omits the
dedication to Artemis. In this quaint figure so fully furnished with wings, in
keeping with the spirit of Ionian art, partial to many wings, we doubtless have
the image called Nike by later generations, and giving rise to the report that
Archermos first gave Nike wings. The strange appendages attached to her
feet must be wings, which once were painted, and often appear on representa-
tions of the Gorgon. But how different this rude but beaming, kindly face
from the Gorgon's horrible mask ! The representation of Nike according to
this same scheme appears on a very old image in terra-cotta discovered in
Olympia, but with greater success than here ; and on the staters of the Ionian
Kyzicos we see this same type continued. 306 This is a favorite scheme for
Digitized by V^OOQIC
ARCHERMOS' WINGED STATUE.
197
moving figures of very olden times ; and the crude, exaggerated movement,
the face in full front view while the legs are running to the side, have a
strong resemblance to the winged figures on early painted vases. Did the
master perhaps get his inspiration from poring over some such ancient vase-
painting ? or are the humbler vases imitations of the greater work in marble ?
We smile at the primitiveness of Archermos' work, and his utter failure to
give the impression of actual motion ; yet we observe his careful chiselling of
hair and face, and must give him credit for boldness in venturing to represent
a figure with extended wings in rapid motion, and that, too, in fragile marble.
The contrast between this old Ionian figure of the sixth century and the flying
Nike by Paionios of Mende, found at Olym-
pia, as well as the colossal Nike of Samo-
thrake of still later date (see Sel. Plate XIV.),
so strikingly great, that these works
IS
Fig. 96. Wingea Nik$ by Aroh§rmo8-
Re$toration.
Conjeeturat
should hardly be brought together; and
yet the comparison enforces upon us the
conviction of the springing and germinant
power in Greek art, and we are better able
to see what tremendous strides were made
by the artist as he continued his experi-
ments in his beautiful marble. The kinship
between this statue and others on Delos is
■evident, not only in the peculiar rendering
of hair and necklace, but also of the foldless
mantle; and it happily widens our knowl-
edge of early Ionian art.
Of Archermos' sons and scholars we
know, alas ! very little. Their works are stated to have been statues of the
Graces, of Tyche, and of Artemis, respectively, at Smyrna, Pergamon, Lasos
on Crete, and at Chios itself, as well as figures which the Emperor Augustus
removed to Rome, decorating with them temples. 307 It is now generally thought
that the latter were not pedimental groups, but simple archaic figures crowning
the summit and corners of the pediments, in the manner of archaic acroteria
found in Etruscan art, which long copied early Ionian patterns. 308
South-east of Chios, clinging to the shore, midway between Ephesos and
Miletos, is the island Samos, famous for its statesmen, philosophers, artists,
and shrines. We need but call to mind the power of Polycrates, the tyrant
here of the latter part of the sixth century, the stories of his wealth and
daring independence, to realize the importance of the island. Its wealth is
indicated by the Temple of Hera, celebrated in all the ancient world on
account of its size, its architecture, and the preciousness of its statues. Its
extensive ruins still witness to the generosity of the insular feUJi^^J*§y>vy^t!)^lC
198 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
wonderful aqueduct in admirable preservation, recently explored, is another elo-
quent witness to their public spirit.309 Among the artists of this island may
first be mentioned Menesarchos, a gem-cutter, who was the father of P)rthago-
ras the philosopher.3»o His fame was, however, eclipsed by two other men,
Rhoicos and Theodoros, sons of Phileas and Telecles. To them are attributed
extensive architectural works, casting in bronze, and even literary produc-
tions. So varied and numerous are the works ascribed to these men,
especially to Theodoros, that scholars were long inclined to consider their
names as standing for two distinct sets of artists ; but recent research has well-
nigh settled the question, and done away with the dangerous expedient of
doubling the ancient artists when their chronology is difficult.3" Wherein
the inventions of Rhoicos and Theodoros consisted, and why Pausanias should
have said that thus "works of art could be produced," is an unsolved
problem.3" Possibly their improvements may have been in the direction of
hollow casting.
In the modem processes of casting, the mould is either in many pieces or
in one single whole.3'3 When a single piece is used, a core of plaster is first
made by the sculptor, roughly presenting the desired form. Over this he lays
a coating of wax, which he finely models with all the delicate touches givmg
expression. Over this waxen model, layer by layer, is laid a coating of
plaster thoroughly enveloping it. When this has hardened, the whole is heated,
and the wax flows out, leaving behind an empty space. The liquid metal is
now poured in, filling the whole, and adapting itself to every nook and crevice
of the mould. When the metal has cooled and hardened, the external envelope
of plaster is broken away, and the inner kernel is removed, which leaves a
hollow metal statue combining lightness with strength. The roughnesses are
then chiselled away, fine lines are sometimes added, and the completed work
of art stands before us. But this process with wax, called cire perdue, is
seldom employed at the present day ; since the mould thus made can be used
but once. This pecuniary disadvantage to modern trade, so dependent for
its profits upon numerous repetitions of one subject, is obviated by the use of
strong piece-moulds, into the hollows of which a fire-proof core is laid, an inter-
mediate space being left to be filled with the molten metal. The pieces thus
cast are united ; the leg, for instance, being adjusted to its place in the body
by blows, and then firmly screwed or riveted in. That similar processes were
employed by the ancients seems evident from a painting representing the
interior of a bronze-caster's workshop, on a vase now in the museum at
Berlin.3M Here a workman pounds an arm into its place, while the head lies
detached at his feet awaiting its turn.
Granting due honor to the Samian masters for any originality in casting
in bronze, — a process which in its perfected state is, as we have seen, most
complicated, — there is reason to believe that they owed much to the East :
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
SCULPTURE ON SAMOS.
199
one Greek author even saying that they were scholars of Egypt. Their island
home, enriched by commerce, had its settlement in the Egyptian Naucratis.
Near neighbors of the Asiatic coasts, the islanders early had intercourse with
Asia Minor, receiving thence articles of industry and luxury. In the eighth
century B.C. the men, as well as women, of Samos, wore ear-rings, necklaces,
and other golden ornaments, showing a decidedly Oriental extravagance and
taste. The statues of these old Samian masters, when mentioned, are
described as exceedingly rude. Such was the bronze figure called Night, in
the temple at Ephesos.3»5 A still more famous statue at Samos, of Apollo, is
said by Diodoros to have been executed by Theodoros and his brother Telecles,
after the canon of proportions which they had learned in Egypt. 3"6 This,
according to the story, enabled them, though living apart, to work
at the same figure, one-half of which, executed by Theodoros at
Ephesos, was found to tally with the other half made by Telecles
at Samos. A bronze figure by Theodoros, said to have been a
portrait of himself, held with three fingers a quadriga covered by
a fly. The description is enigmatical ; but may refer to a stone
cut in the style of a scarab, with a spread fly on the upper and a
chariot and horses on the lower side. 3' 7
Great weight was attached to Theodoros' vessels of precious
metal. One of these in silver, said to have been so large as to
hold more than forty-nine thousand gallons, was sent by the Lydian
Croesus as a votive offering to the temple at Delphi. Another, of
gold, stood in the apartments of a Persian king. A grape-vine
of gold, on which the grapes were precious stones ; and the cele-
brated seal-ring owned by Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, — were
also said to have been the work of Theodoros. 3*8 The praise of
his vessels for mixing libations, while the figures of his school are spoken of
as stiff and rude, may indicate that decorative and industrial art was his strong
point.
These Samians are said to have built the renowned Lemnian labyrinth with
its one hundred and fifty columns, and the Temple of Hera, on their native
island. Theodoros' name is also associated with the building of the temple
at Ephesos, and Mr. Wood's excavations on the site have furnished remarkable
corroboration of the statements of the ancients. Previous to the erection of
the great temple, Theodoros is said to have advised preparing for the founda-
tions by laying in the marshy soil a layer of charcoal, which the ancients tell
us was put between fleeces of wool. This tradition, long considered a fanciful
story, has at last been proved, in part at least, to be true. Under the lowest
foundations, Mr. Wood discovered a layer of chSircoal three inches thick, be-
tween two strata four inches thick of a substance of the consistency of putty,
found on analysis to be a kind of mortar.3«9
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig. 96. DrcLped
Sttttut found
in Samoa,
probably Mora*
200 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
Happily at last a speaking witness to the skill of early Samian sculptors in
marble has been found on their native island, within the precincts of its great
temple.320 Among the secondary shrines which seem to have surrounded the
temple proper was discovered a statue measuring 1.92 meters in height, and
of white, large-grained marble, like that of Paros (Fig. 96). The shape of the
letters of its inscription, and the careful workmanship of the statue, give as its
date the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the fifth, century B.C. We notice
at once the stiff, erect form, in general resembling that of Nicandra's votive
gift at Delos (Fig. 89). But this marble figure illustrates the growth from such
uny^ieldy works, in which the influence of wooden patterns was felt, to those
in which the statue becomes in spirit almost thoroughly a marble production.
Here we see a very richly dressed lady, and close examination shows how
elaborate and painfully fine are the details of her wardrobe. Not the two sim-
ple garments usually met with in Greek statues of a more perfected art, but
four are clearly to be distinguished. A long under-robe of light and apparently
ribbed stuff falls from shoulders to feet, and is girded at the waist. Over this
a coarser shawl-like mantle is thrown, buttoned many times on the arm, which
is left bare below the elbow. The third wrap hangs most curiously from the
girdle in a curve above, and falls in a straight, bordered mass around the body
nearly to the feet. The fourth garment, not to be seen in the plate, falls from
the neck straight down the back, nearly to the bottom of the third. The right
hand and arm, both worked out with care, hold the stiff drapery at the side ;
while the left hand, but partially preserved, is laid across the breast, where a
hole indicates that some attribute, perhaps a pomegranate or flower, was origi-
nally fastened. But who may be this quaint, elaborately dressed lady from the
temple-courts ? The inscription carved into the border of her second mantle,
where it is attached to the belt, addresses the beholder with the words, " Xera-
meus consecrated me a votive gift to Hera ; " and it is probable that the richly
draped statue represents Hera herself. The wardrobe of this temple divinity
at Samos, according to an inscription discovered there in 1877, was very rich.32>
There were many tunics of various colors, and mantles of fine tissues ; and may
we not imagine the sculptor, in his representation of Hera, to have been influ-
enced by the sight of the old xoana, hung with such rich and costly garments >
The style of the sculpture is exceedingly interesting, as being much like that
of the famous statues from Miletos, discovered by Professor Newton, and now
in the British Museum (p. 179). An elaborateness of drapery is seen in them
also, as well as the failure to render the form under the heavy folds.
Thus we see, that, from the islands of the ^Egean, many monuments of
greatest importance for the history of very early Greek sculpture have been
rescued ; and we can only hope that other long-hidden treasures will soon be
brought to light.
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CHAPTER XIIL
BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH OF SCULPTURE IN MARBLE DURING THE SIXTH
CENTURY B.C. fco/u/ui/td),^ GREECE AND SICILY.
Art in Crete and the Peloponnesos. — Traditional Art. — Rude Cretan Bronzes. — The Scholars of
Dipoinos and Skyllis. — Discoveries of HomoUe. — Gitiadas. — Argos and Sikyon. — Argive Works
at Olympia. — Similar Works in Dodona and Etruria. — Apollo of Tenea. — Monuments from
Sparta. ^Chrysapha Relief, etc. — Significance of these Sculptures. — Their Growth and Artistic
Features. — Attempts at Portraiture in Lakedaimonian Art. — Sculptures from Meligii, Selinus,
and Kythera. — Sculptures at Olympia. — Colossal Head of Hera. — Bronze Head of Zeus. — Fig-
ure of Zeus. — Treasury of Megara. — Its Primitive Style. — Archaic Art in Bceotia. — So-called
Apollo of Orchomenos. — Relief from Tanagra. — Significance of these Works. — Their Style and
Origin. — Foreign Influences in Attica. — Use of Foreign Stone. — Athena by Endoios. — Attic
Tomb-sculptures. — Marble Head of Athena from Acropolis. — The Attic Type. — Fragmentary
Statues from the Acropolis. — Sphinx from Spata. — Tombstone Figure from Athens. — Relief
from Themistocles' Wall. — Tombstones of Aristion and Lyseas. ^ Peculiarities of Attic Tomb-
reliefs. — Relief in advance of Statuary. — iEgina. — Head from Saburoff Collection. — Art in
Sicily and Southern Italy. — Sculptures from Selinus. — General Characteristics of Art at this
time, — Influence of Contemporary Customs on the Artist
Leaving the art of Asia Minor and the islands in the sixth century B.C., we
turn to that of Crete and its disciple, the Peloponnesos, for the same period.
Crete, the fabled home of Daidalos and the Telchines, had doubtless still a
flourishing art-life. Pausanias drops an obscure sentence about the fame of
the Cretans in executing xoana.3^^ The fact that two celebrated Cretan sculp-
tors, the brothers Dipoinos and Skyllis, now moved to the Peloponnesos, where
they worked, and gathered around them a large number of scholars, even from
distant Italy, shows conclusively the artistic importance of Crete during the
sixth century. , According to Pliny, these men, whom tradition styled the sons
of Daidalos himself, took up their home in the Peloponnesos before Cyrus came
to the Persian throne ; and their date is consequently placed about 580 B.C., or
the opening of this century.323 The temples of Cleonai, Argos, and Sikyon, as
well as of far-off Ambrakia in Aitolia, were said to be full of their works ; and
a gilded bronze figure of Heracles from their hands was owned by the rich
Croesus of Lydia, and formed a part of the booty carried off by Cyrus when he
conquered that king in 541 B.C.324 The most of their works seem tp have been
combinations of wood, ivory, and probably gold. In the temple of the Dioscuri,
at Argos, was seen an equestrian group of these demi-gods and their families, .
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202
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
executed in ebony and ivory; but the statement by Pliny, that these men
worked in marble, is probably groundless. 325
Such having been the perishable construction of the works of the early
Cretan masters known to us, it is not strange that only small remains in bronze
and terra-cotta have been found on the island ; although excavations may yet
serve to enlighten us upon its early art, and would be of highest importance
for its history. Two rude bronzes were found in Crete, which once probably
adorned a vessel of the same material.326 One is a statuette of a nude youth, —
perhaps a worshipper, — bearing a goat upon his shoulder, and is now in the
Berlin Museum : the other is a relief, cut out djour (Fig. 97). It was evidently
intended to be applied to a background, perhaps
the body of a cisia, or cylindrical casket, like one
now in the Berlin Museum, from Capua, which is
surmounted by a similar goat-bearing figure. The
scene on this Cretan bronze, in which a bearded
man with bow in hand takes hold of the arm of a
younger comrade bearing a long-horned goat on
his shoulder, is doubtless a parley between two
simple hunters. The lack of proper individualiza-
tion in these crude shapes makes it impossible
to detect any deeper mythological meaning. The
main interest lies in the curious style and technique.
The treatment of the metal brings up the question
whether Dipoinos and Skyllis may not have used a
similar appliqtU style with ivory and woods in exe-
cuting statues of the heroes and gods. So crude
and undeveloped are these products, that they may
with safety be assigned to the latter half of 'the
seventh, or very early part of the sixth, century.
In the Peloponnesos the Lakedaimonian brothers, Dorycleidas and Dontas,
were scholars of Dipoinos and Skyllis, and seem to have carried out the
peculiar technique of their foreign teachers, executing groups in wood, deco-
rated with gold and ivory, for the treasure-houses at Olympia, where they
were seen by Pausanias long centuries afterwards. This writer gives them
but a passing notice ; and although the Treasury was discovered where their
works stood, still no fragments or tokens of their costly work were found.327
Of Clearchos of Rhegion in Italy, also said to have been a scholar of the
celebrated Cretan masters, we know but little, except that he executed a
figure of Zeus for Sparta in the oldest manner of hammering out and riveting
together the pieces of metal.328 Two other sculptors, Tectaios and Angelion,
also called scholars of Dipoinos and Skyllis, and probably natives of the island
Cos, continued the chryselephantine style of these masters, and executed for
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 97, Bronze Reitef from Crwt:
ARGIVE BRONZES. 203
Apollo's shrine at Delos a statue of the god, who appeared holding his bow in
one hand and the three Graces on the other.329 M. HomoUe has recently
discovered the accounts made by officials of Delos of the accumulated treasure
of the temple, among which these Graces on the hand of the god are men-
tioned. On Athenian coins we recognize this figure of the god holding his
bow and the Graces ; its pose being that so often met with in extant works
of this time, in which the nude figure stands erect, like the Naxos Apollo,
mentioned p. 191, with arms raised from the elbow, and holding attributes. 33<>
Gitiadas of Sparta, poet, architect, and sculptor at once, was probably a
younger contemporary of the Cretan masters. Besides decorating votive tripods
with figures of the gods, he built a temple to Athena, and executed for it the
statue of the goddess, adorning his work with extensive bronze reliefs of
the labors of Heracles, the birth of Athena, and other mythological scenes,
continuing, it would seem, an old system in covering statue and temple in-
terior with bronze.33'
In the Peloponnesos, whither Dipoinos and Skyllis had come introducing
their art, Argos and Sikyon seem always to have been the most important
centres of art-influence. Argos had its own sculptors from olden times ; and
their descendants were proud of such antecedents, as appears from the state-
ment of Pausanias, that he saw an inscription on a statue erected about
Olymp. 70, which stated, that the sculptors who executed it " had learned from
those who had gone before." 33^ The old Argive and Sikyon masters seem to
have worked mainly in bronze, a characteristic which was always retained;
while neighboring Attica developed more the use of marble, gold, and ivory.
This decided preference for metal, a material so tempting to the avarice of
man, may explain the lack of monuments traceable to workshops of Argos
and Sikyon. A few unpretending bronze reliefs, doubtless once the incrus-
tation of some sacred utensil, were, however, found at Olympia, inscribed with
Argive characters, and are among the earliest works that we have from
Argos. They are hammered out in thin metal, and the scenes represented are
apparently mythic. Within a border, like braided work, and another of squares
resembling metopes and triglyphs, is a running winged figure at full speed, in
the peculiar half-kneeling pose of the old art : again, two men seem to converse
over a fallen body. In a third relief (Fig. 98 a) we see a part of the figure of
the bound Prometheus in the same pose as on an island gem (Fig. 7Z)^^^
The most interesting of these metal incrustations is that in which Heracles
(Fig. 98 b) wrestles with a semi-fish, semi-human being, called, in the accom-
panying inscription, Halios Geron, the wise monster of the deep, whose origin
is to be traced to Oriental myth, and who resembles the fishy monster in the
Assos sculptures. The forms on these old bits of bronze are such, that, in con-
nection with the shape of the letters of the inscription, they may be assigned
to the latter half of the sixth century. On them Heracles still appears without
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204
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
his lion's skin, but carrying his bow, and wearing the quiver on his back. The
finding at Dodona and in Etruria of metal reliefs, exactly like these old Argive
bronzes, one of which is now in the museum at Carlsruhe, indicates that these
works were articles of export trade, and shows us one of the sources whence
Etruria drew her art-forms. 334
Not many hours' journey from Argos at Tenea, that marble statue was
found, now in Munich, generally known as the Apollo of Tenea (Fig. 99),
which in its type is like the statues described above as found on Thera and
Naxos. It receives its name on account of its being a nude, beardless youth,
wearing long hair, — characteristics supposed to have belonged exclusively to
Apollo. But that such flowing locks in archaic art were found on mortals,
appears from a crude bronze relief from Olympia, in which two nude men are
wrestling, one of them having long hair falling down his back. Besides, the
Fig, 98 <L Bronit Reitef from Argot.
Olympia,
Diaeootrml In
Fig. 081k Bronie Rtiitf from Argos- DIaooooroti lit
OlympliL Heracles etruggling with Halioe Oeron.
site of discovery was a burial-place, well-nigh proving, that not a god, but
the deceased, appears here. 335 This naive old statue from Tenea stands with
hands at the side, both feet planted flat on the ground, the left slightly in
advance. The hands are tightly closed, and the long hair falls in waves of con-
ventional regularity down the bacL The corners of the closed mouth are so
drawn up as to seem to smile, and the almond-shaped eyes are obliquely set. So
bald is the framework of this statue, and so harsh its lines, that Brunn sees in
it an illustration of that process by which old wooden statues were transmitted
into works in stone. 33^ The curves about the comers of the mouth are like
those cut by a knife, having a sharpness unnatural to marble. But we see
here an honest endeavor to render nature. The legs and feet are more succes-
fully given than the broader, more difficult forms of the chest. The muscles
of the thighs, though too massive, indicate in the flow of their lines a capa-
bility of tension which would make them true mediums of motion and manly
strength. The shoulders slope unnaturally, the neck appears stretched, and
the loins are disproportionately slender. These imperfections are, however.
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RELIEFS FROM LAKEDAIMONIA.
205
somewhat atoned for by the nicety with which the general forms are adjusted,
the painstaking in the details, and the skill shown in the handling of the
marble. But how far yet from agreeable portraiture is this strange face, with
its retreating forehead and projecting chin !
,>^'
Hi
A remarkable series of monuments, discovered within a few years in the
neighborhood of Sparta, ancient Lakedaimonia, show us a strongly local art, as
having flourished in the confined valley of the Eurotas. Together with many
other relics, recently unearthed in and about Sparta, they are for the most part
collected in a museum in that ancient city. This series, as well as an Arcadian
relief now in Athens, are especially interesting as throwing light
upon hitherto unknown ancient customs with regard to the dead ;
and the subjects, being frequently repeated, allow us to follow
art in its development towards truth to nature and beauty of
form, while clinging to the same old type. These sculptures,
no less than thirteen in number, are variations on one theme, a
male and a female throned figure, and were tombstone reliefs,
as appears from the position in which several of them were
found. 337
The earliest, which, judging from its style, dates from 600 to
550 B.C., was found at Chrysapha, three hours east of Sparta, in
a tumulus of earth and stone, and is now owned by M. Saburoff,
Russian ambassador at Berlin (Fig. ic»). It is in the bluish-gray
stone of the place, and in perfect preservation. The slab on
which it is cut is rectangular below ; but its sides are not straight
by the rule, and follow the outline of the group. Here, on a
high throne, its back ending in a palm-leaf, and its feet re-
sembling lions' claws, two large figures are seated side by side.
The nearer looks out with full front face towards the beholder ;
his neck has the width of the face ; and over his shoulders and
chest drop four rigid locks, like rows of beads. One hand is advanced, holding
a large vase or cantharos of beautiful shape : the other is empty, and extended
with open palm. The body, which appears like one flat surface, is covered by a
garment, indicated only by a few exactly parallel folds running across the form,
and finished by a hem. The ankle-bones are rendered with a nearer approach
to nature than any thing else in this curious figure. A wedge-shaped beard is
sparingly marked on the large chin. The corners of the mouth are drawn up,
giving that peculiar expression so frequently met with in archaic Greek works ;
and the ears, placed high on the head, stand out from it. Occupying the
same throne sits an equally erect female figure, with face in profile. A broad
braid crosses her forehead, and a curl as stiff as those of her companion drops
below the ear. Her mouth is small and straight, chin large and full, bosom
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
Fig. 99. The ao-
0€UM Apollo
from Ten 90.
Munich.
206
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
high and prominent. Her left hand holds, with rudely executed thumb and
forefinger, a veil, which is only indicated by its raised edge. Her right hand
holds upon her lap a pomegranate. Parallel lines across the knee show that
the sculptor meant to represent her as draped ; and one foot is hidden in a
pointed shoe, like those seen on ancient monuments of Asia Minor. Below
these two large figures we discern two diminutive shapes, — a man approaching,
bearing a cock and an egg ; and a woman with a pomegranate and convention-
ally formed bud. Both of these minute figures are fully draped, the garments
following in sharp lines the contour of the bodies. The woman has her dress
buttoned on the shoulder, and in general
resembles the enthroned figure to whom
she brings offerings. A snake, with a
long, narrow beard, raises itself behind the
throne, having a large comb on its dog-like
head, and its tail curled under the throne^
thus filling out the space otherwise vacant.
Inscriptions on several similar reliefs
aid us in understanding the significance
of these monuments. On one we are told
that a wife, Tyche, dedicated the stele to
her husband, Micos ; and other inscrip-
tions make it probable that these seated
figures are representations of the heroed
dead, receiving the homage of kindred and
friends, and not of the great divinities of
the underworld, as was at first supposed. 33^ ■
As the ancient Greek raised temples to his god ; so, in the same spirit of
devotion, he put up these humbler monuments to his dead, honoring them, as it
would seem, with the garments and symbols of the nether world, — Dionysos*
cantharos^ Persephone's pomegranate and veil, and the sacred snake. Follow-
ing these interesting reliefs approximately, in the order of their development^
we next notice one now in Sparta, in which the subject is the same as in that
just described, but with a difference in the details. 339 A dog, doubtless, like
the snake and pomegranate, of symbolical meaning, sits against the leg of the
throne, regarding the little worshippers who approach. The latter do not
straggle along, but stand side by side in perspective. There is less rigidity in
the lines of this relief ; although the same sharp treatment, as if in layers meas-
ured off, is evident. Other reliefs, with groups facing in the opposite direction,
show a decided advance on this very old class. 34© From these the little wor-
shippers have disappeared, the scheme is simpler, and in one case we are
astonished by the naturalness of a piece of drapery falling over the arm of the
throne. The vase is smaller than in the former reliefs, and the surface is more
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 100.
Tomb ft9ll9f found at Chryaaplia, near
Sparta. Saburoff Collection,
RELIEFS FROM LAKEDAIMONIA.
207
agreeably filled. A very interesting variation on these reliefs, and bringing new
light on certain points, is one in which the hero appears alone, seated on hia
lotos-crowned throne (Fig. loi). The pomegranate and cantharos are here, but
the snake has disappeared ; and in its place is a trotting-horse, and a dog leap-
ing up on the hero's knees.34« In the older reliefs, the dog sits stiffly by the
side of the throne, — a cold symbol : here he is made to give expression to his
friendly interest ; and, although his form is faulty, we are touched by this at-
tempt of the old carver to weave a kindly, loving element into his work. The
drapery is only partially carved out ; the remainder having, doubtless, been
expressed by color.
We meet this quaint figure again in a relief which may date from soon after
5C» B.C. His throne has become more elegant, the hair more natural, the eyes
less oblique ; and we see in the folds of the sleeve some correspondence to the
form of the arm beneath. The enthroned lady holds out her veil less stiffly ;
and her hand, enveloped in its folds, is indicated through them. The man is
also in profile ; and, although the folds of his dress are straight, they are na
longer so stiffly parallel : and the whole
relief has come to be an agreeable repre-
sentation.
Out of the small worshippers of the
older scenes, independent types seem to
have grown. Thus, a girl bearing a bud
seems a development of the tiny, uncouth
worshipper of Fig. ic»; and how ex-
quisitely such a motive was carried still
farther will be seen in another relief, now
in the Louvre, from Pharsalos (Fig. 130).
On still another of these very archaic
sepulchral reliefs from Arcadia, and now
in Athens, the veiled woman, holding a
flower, occupies a throne alone. 342 Be-
fore her stands a youth, offering a wreath
to her companion. Of the latter, the
feet alone are left ; but, judging from
analogy with later sculptures, there can be no doubt that he appeared reclining,,
as at the feast of the dead. In this relief, we see the archaic prototype of a
class of representations which became very common in later times, one of which
is given in Fig. 213. Throughout this series of reliefs from ancient Lakedai-
monia, there is noticeable a striving to subordinate the details, the whole being
divided off into broad planes. We feel that the sculptor was guided by a mathe-
matical principle, which, although harsh and stiff, does not seem to represent a
thoroughly child-like art, groping to find its way, but has a firmness orJy ^ A^Tp
Fig. 101. Tombstone Rnllef from Lakedaimonia. Prl-
vote pos898sion.
208 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
explained by supposing that the sculptor copied older and already established
types. This original type, as we may conclude from the peculiar treatment of
the earliest of these reliefs, must have been in wood. The figures have some-
thing unbending in the edges, board-like in their surfaces, and are notched in
the folds. Moreover, the Laconian land is known to have been especially rich
in most ancieut wooden figures of various kinds. The so-called Spartan stele,
which has been the subject of much discussion, has the same general char-
acter as the works already described. '«
In addition to their dependence upon wood, it is thought by Brunn, that in
the breadth and sharpness inherent in the style of these works may be discerned
a peculiar characteristic of what he deems Peloponnesian art, and which, he
thinks, sought, not a free imitation of nature, but its subjugation to the severe
lines of architectonic build ; while the pleasing details of drapery and the like
have led others to see in these old works the influence of the old Ionian, indi-
cated in the tradition connected with Bathycles from Magfnesia. The striking
resemblances in subject, and some details of garment, to the Harpy monument,
— those sculptures found in Lykia, doubtless traceable to Ionian influence, —
go farther to confirm the theory, that here early influences from Asia Minor
were at work.
That in the very olden time the sculptors of ancient Laconia attempted
portraiture, appears from a small archaic marble head, now in private posses-
sion, which was found in MeligA, a village on the site of ancient Thyrea.344
Although exceedingly crude, we feel that the artist has tried to represent the
characteristics and friendliness of life, while leaving many details to be
expressed by color. A small bronze discovered in 1871 at Kosmasanct (Seli-
nus), in the midst of Laconia, and now belonging to the Archaeological Society
at Athens, is another interesting witness to the early art of this part of the
land.345 It represents a warrior in armor, wearing a tall, plumed helmet, close-
fitting breastplate, and greaves. His hair falls in a long, heavy mass down his
back, and a pointed beard hangs from his chin. The right arm, doubtless, once
held a lance ; and the left is lowered, as though carrying a shield. He places
both feet flat on the ground, the left slightly in advance, and has altogether a
martial bearing. The inscription surrounding the base tells us, that one
Carmos dedicated this figure, perhaps of himself, to the god Maleates, — a
name under which Apollo was worshipped in the Peloponnesos. The figure
has a precision of outline and lean firmness throughout which is peculiar. The
details of this well-preserved bronze, which appear through the patina^ are,
moreover, subservient to the general build and conception of the whole, and
give this small figure a decided character and importance in the history of
ancient Laconian art. The shape of the letters of its inscription fixes its date
at about the end of the sixth century. A statuette of kindred firm style, and
equally fine workmanship, now in Berlin, was discovered at Olympia. This
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
. APHRODITE HEAD FROM KYTHERA. 209
statuette wears a short jacket reaching to the waist, and is otherwise nude.
It seems to represent an ordinary worshipper ; but the same figure in another
instance has received the lion's skin, and become a Heracles.346 A very fine,
nearly life-size bronze head from Kythera (Cerigo), now in the Berlin Museum,
shows us this firm, energetic style developed on a large scale, there being a cer-
tainty of expression throughout its forms (Fig. 102). This head represents, with-
out doubt, a goddess, and, by comparison with archaic coins of Cnidos, is seen
to be Aphrodite, who from ancient times was worshipped at Kythera.347 The
eyeballs, once filled to represent the pupil, have now lost their contents. When
looking at this plain ideal of Aphrodite, how long and arduous seems the road
still to be travelled by Greek art until it should climb to the height where stood
Praxiteles' love-inspiring goddess ! In this bronze, Brunn finds a mathematical
architectonic build of the framework. The surface planes are clearly marked,
Fig. 102. Broiix9 Head, probably Afibrodtta. From Fig. 10S. Coloasat Head In Umeetone, probably
Kythera. Berlin Museum. Hera. Olympla.
but all the softer and naturally changing forms of muscle and skin are omitted.
The hair is treated in masses, varied only by shallow surface-lines. Thus the
build of the face offers little change of surface. In its long oval the forehead
is archless, the eyes retreat but slightly, the overhanging of the eyebrows is
barely intimated by a raised line, the nose appears as if superadded, and the
mouth, about which plays a quaint smile, is subordinated to the strong chin.
All superfluous detail being thus omitted, there is throughout the work extreme
moderation in following nature, combined with remarkable skill in rendering
that which the sculptor chose. In earlier works, such as the Apollo of Tenea,
incapacity and ignorance seem to have affected conception and execution.
Here, however, no unskilled mind or hand was at work. Experimenting is
nowhere evident. The sculptor seems to go methodically to work, paring
down, as it were, every thing accidental or superfluous, according to a sure,
but stem system. This could not have been the hap-hazard experimenting
of a single man, but the result of a long discipline. Such a well-trained school,
literary notices warrant us in believing, existed in Argos and Sikyon, and should .
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
2IO ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
come in Polycleitos to ripest fruition. Possibly this head had its origin in these
centres of art-activity ; but, as yet, analogies fail to prove the certainty of this
supposition.
Turning to the western Peloponnesos, we find in Olympia many witnesses
to the activity of this olden time. But we must remember, that to this sacred
spot flowed gifts from all parts of the ancient Greek world ; and hence works
of every school and national type must have stood here side by side. To
group the kindred monuments, and trace back these families to the hearth-
stones whence they came, are among the great and glorious tasks which now
rest upon the archaeologist, who out of ruined, confused monuments, must
build up again the stately fabric of old.
The monuments in the stone of the neighborhood were doubtless executed
on the spot, but it seems clear that they were often the work of masters from
abroad. Thus the Treasuries of the Sicilians at Olympia have been shown to
be the work of Sicilian architects, from their kinship to works in Sicily ; and
it is possible that some day the same may be proved for their sculptures.348
Among the oldest monuments at Olympia is a colossal head (Fig. 103), in the
yellowish-white limestone of the neighborhood, the same material as a large
pedestal which must have borne the sacred image of Hera, since it was found
at the inner end of her very ancient temple.349 This head, a very crude piece
of sculpture, there can be little doubt belonged to this very ancient idol of
that goddess, seen by Pausanias in the temple, and described as a very coarse
piece of work.350 It seems to belong to the very beginnings of working in
stone. No such firm treatment is evident here as in the Chrysapha relief or
Kythera Aphrodite, but a seeking after modes of expression. Color was appar-
ent on this colossal head when first discovered ; its head-dress, the calathos,
being light red, and the tania winding through the hair dark red. The pupils
of the eyes are marked by a circle scratched in the stone, and emphasized by
color. The ear is egregiously misplaced ; being, unlike most archaic ears, far
too low down. In view of its feeble forms, we do not wonder that Pausanias
was struck by its ugliness in a temple which contained works in gold, ivory,
and cedar-wood, and even Praxiteles' Hermes. When, however, we remember
that from such crude ideals of the great Hera floating in primitive minds,
should in time be developed the queenly features of a Juno Ludovisi, our
interest, at least, is enlisted for this feeble beginning.
A far more developed art, with lean, firm forms, is seen in a fine bronze
head (Fig. 104) discovered at Olympia, and doubtless representing Zeus. How
strong and concise the artist's language here, in which every detail is sub-
jected to the main impression 1 But this head is especially interesting as
showing us in life-size the old type in which artists before Pheidias repre-
sented the supreme god. The elaborate coiffure, and the long, pointed beard,
suggest a time when artists must have seen around them a more complicated
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211
arrangement of the hair than that in vogue in the time after the Persian war.
A terra-cotta head, also found at Olympia, shows us this type and expression,
which has, however, lost much of the archaic harshness of the bronze.35» A
Zeus in full, quaint figure is also represented among these bronzes ; but his
whole appearance has still nothing that inspires us with an idea of the god-
like, which was yet to be expressed by coming artists, standing on the shoul-
ders of those who had gone before.
Important among the most archaic sculptures discovered at Olympia, but
unfortunately very seriously injured, are those high reliefs which adorned the
pediment of the Treasury of the people of Megara. They form the oldest
pedimental group known to us, and -are referred to by Pausanias.352 They
decorated the exterior of the building in which stood the small figures in
cedar-wood and gold by Dontas and Dory-
cleidas, mentioned p. 202, and may possibly
be connected with the ancient art of La-
conia, the home of those masters. They
are, doubtless, from the latter half of the
sixth century B.C., and, although in the
coarse stone of the land, show upon what
compositibns those old men ventured in
decorating the Treasuries of the altis.
The scene represents in crudest forms the
combat of gods and giants, a subject which
should attain long afterwards fullest expres-
sion in the powerful frieze of the Great Altar
at Pergamon. Parts of all the groups are
fortunately preserved to us, as well as many
architectural fragments. The giants are clad in full armor, and seem complete
but very brutal human beings, their faces calling to mind those of the cen-
taurs of the great Temple of Zeus. But the composition is the most interesting
feature of these stifiE reliefs, there being observed that strict correspondence of
parts met with in all early Greek compositions. In the centre, not a single
figure, but a struggling group of two, appears, doubtless Zeus and a giant On
each side follow two groups of combatants, — to the right, according to Treu's
interpretation, (i) Athena and a giant ; (2) Poseidon and a giant. To the left
are (i) Heracles with his foe; (2) Ares with his, and in the comers a sea-
monster and what seems to be a serpent. There is, then, that symmetry to
be met with constantly in later times, but here still monotonously regular ; and
in the single groups the exaggerated motion, so marked in archaic relief, is
everywhere evident. Other peculiarities of composition show still other in-
cipient stages of what should be developed by Greek genius into the highest
results. Thus there is an earnest attempt to fill out the sloping space of the
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Fig. 104, Htcul of Zwt in Brome. Olympia.
212 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
pediment : but, in so doing, the early artist has not avoided great disproportion
between the lying, kneeling, and standing forms ; the latter, as in the Temple
of Assos, being amusingly small In the crowded space, legs and arms cross
one another, doubtless to break in part the iron symmetry followed, but in
reality producing confusion. The movement of the figures is from the centre
outward, giving the impression that the giants flee on each side before the gods.
So unskilfully is this done, however, that even the gods seem to be in danger
of running their heads against the slope of the pediment. Much is left to color,
which is altogether conventional ; hair, lips, and eyes alike having a fiery red.
In Boeotia, in the sixth century, archaic art seems to have been striving,
though in a feeble way, to express itself. In the different museums at Thebes,
Tanagra (Skimatari), Thespiai (Eumocastro), and Chaironeia (Capuma), are col-
lected many specimens of sculpture discovered in that state. Others are still
scattered throughout the land, and some have been removed to Athens.
Among the very earliest is the crude statue of a nude youth from Orchomenos,
after the exact scheme of the so-called ApoUo'i of Tenea and Thera.353 The
primitive artist here seems to attempt, with some independence, a representa-
tion, in rough Boeotian stone, of a pattern received, perhaps, from abroad. His
lack of success appears in the coarse features, and amusing anatomy of the mus-
cles of the abdomen. Another smaller stat e, proved to be likewise originally
from Boeotia, and now in the British Museum, is much in advance of it, and,
while much ruined, still shows that a genuine striving to represent truthfully
the human form was attaining good results (Fig. 105). A work in very high
relief, discovered in a necropolis at Tanagra, shows a primitive and poor attempt
to combine two figures of this old type in one group.354 The accompanying in-
scription teaches us, that they represent Dermys and Kitylos ; but such is the
advanced character of the letters, that the sculpture must have been executed
late in the sixth century, and not as early as was at first conjectured from its
shockingly crude and barbarous forms. Compared with a monument of Aga-
thon and Aristocrates at Thespiai, which has the same style of letters, but a
vastly superior art, we see that the Dermys and Kitylos monument is not older
work, but that of men left far behind in the race. The fact that these old,
standing nude figures, with one foot in advance, were used for sepulchres, goes
to strengthen the idea that the Orchomenos and British-Museum statues, fol-
lowing the same type, were also not of gods, but heroed mortals. It seems
equally certain, however, that this very type, sometimes at least, represented
Apollo ; since in a Pompeian picture the same figure appears with an altar be-
fore it. Whence this type came, and who the artists that originated it, are
questions that have long awakened inquiry.
With slight differences, the motive is the same in the Orchomenos, British-
Museum, Thera, and Tenea statues, as well as in two from Actium, now in
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IONIAN INFLUENCE IN ATTICA.
213
the Louvre. In all, the figure stands with left foot advanced, both arms hang-
ing at the side, and separated from the body only at the waist. The hands are
closed tightly, so that the broad side of the thumb is turned outward : the hair
in all falls down the neck, and the legs are carefully worked out. It has been
conjectured that this original type may be traced back to the old Daidalid sculp-
tors, Dipoinos and Skyllis, from Crete, whose art spread oyer the Peloponnesos,
and must have been different from that of Ionia.355 To them may possibly be
traced these representations of the nude male form, in contrast to the lonians,
who wore long garments, which they represented by preference
in their art. The Cretan Daidalid sculptors, unlike the lonians,
worked, not in marble, but wood and metal, and may have built
on the groundwork of a severe type similar to that of Egypt,
with which, on account of their proximity to that country, they
may easily have become acquainted. That the influence of for-
eign art was strong in Boeotia appears, besides, from the inscribed
tombstone carved there by the Naxian Alxenor (see p. 192). We
shall see, that, in later monuments, Attic influence was strong ;
and that, so far as we know, there never flourished in Boeotia
an independent native art, like that of its neighbors, Argos,
Sikyon, and Attica.
We may now turn to Attica itself, the land that should give
birth to the greatest sculptors. At the beginning of the sixth
century a Solon lived, framing for Athens wise laws. As time
passed on, the Peisistratidae came to power. They made internal
improvements, built a temple to Athena, and erected an altar
to the twelve great gods of Olympos; but, by 510 B.C., this
house was deprived of its power by the people seeking greater
liberty. Tradition claimed that the descendants of Daidalos worked in Athens,
thus implying that there had long been a national Attic art : but there are
signs, that, during the sixth century, Attica, in sculpture, was under the tute-
lage of Parian and Ionian masters ; slowly developing, however, her own pecul-
iar character. 356 Of the sculptors of this age, known to us by inscriptions,
there is scarcely one not proved to be a foreigner ; the very material used in
Athens was Parian, not native Attic marble ; and the types were the same as
those found on the islands and in Ionia. Even the metrical verses on the old
Attic hermcBy put up as waymarks by the Peisistratidae, were foreign, and may
be traced to Ionic poets.357
On four different pedestals of Parian marble, found in Attica, the name of
Aristion, a Parian artist, is inscribed ; the form of the letters proving that his
works date from the sixth century B.C.358 Unfortunately, the sculptures which
once stood over them, and were intended for graves, are gone. ^^ ^^^^^^ ^ ^OOqIc
Fig. 106. Nude
Mal9 Figure with
Long Hair, from
BcBotleu BrttUh
Museum.
214
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
Endoios, whom we have already seen to have been an Ionian, executed a
seated statue of Athena, consecrated by Callias, and seen on the Acropolis near
the Erechtheion, by Pausanias.359 It is possible that a seated archaic figure of
marble, discovered under the Acropolis, may be this figure from his hand
(Fig. io6). That it represents Athena, is clear from the cegis over the shoulders,
and the signs of having had the Gorgon head attached. Unfortunately, the cut
does not render the fine lines of the drapery at all correctly, making them look
like hair. Although much like the best developed of the Miletos statues, it is
more spirited in composition, and, if executed by Endoios, shows that he was a
great innovator. To those accustomed to the im-
movable seated representations of the goddess, as
we have them in archaic terra-cotta figures, how bold
must have been the artist's change in this statue,
making the goddess draw back her leg, fairly ready
to rise from her eternal throne ! The fact that all
archaic works in the round, found in Attica, are in
imported Parian marble, while the less extensive
reliefs are sometimes of native Attic material from
Pentelicos or Hymettos, shows that the use of this
cheaper native stone once was not general ; and it
is not probable that it became so before the time
of Pericles and Pheidias. Another fact, confirming
the dependence of Attica upon the outside world,
is, that the type of many archaic draped figures,
found in Athens, some of which are now in the
British Museum, is exactly the same as that of
the figures recently discovered in Delos (p. 194).
By far the greater part of the oldest monuments from Attica are from
tombs ; a few, however, seeming to have been single offerings on the Acropo-
lis. Had not the Persians so thoroughly destroyed old Athens, we should,
doubtless, have also had preserved to us relics of temple sculptures from this
olden time. Of the many very archaic fragments from the Acropolis, that time-
honored shrine of Athena, none is, perhaps, more interesting than a large mar-
ble head, represented by necessity alongside of the seated Rameses II., on
Plate I., and showing us the ancient conception of the great national goddess
Athena, who here wears the close-fitting Attic helmet, and, strangely enough,
large ear-rings dropping from the exaggerated lobes of her ears. 359* At first
sight this head is almost repulsive, and is certainly lacking in that finer feeling
and grace we are wont to connect with Attic art. It appears to be the early
sculptor's attempt to represent life as he saw it ; and he succeeds in conveying
a certain impression of inner force and kindliness welling out in the thick lips,
cheek-muscles, and large, round eyes, quite different from any thing in many
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Fig, 106. 89attt Attiwa In Marbie.
Athens.
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OLD ATTIC SCULPTURE. 215
severer forms found in the Peloponnesos, or the more luxurious ones of ancient
Ionia, as seen in the Ephesos heads. Besides, in contrast to the long and
narrow oval of the face, seen in the Aphrodite found at Kythera (p. 209), and in
some heads from Attica itself, such as the Spata sphinx (Fig. 107), we see, here,
that short oval so beautifully adhered to in the heads on the Parthenon frieze,
and a most distinguishing feature of Attic art in the age of Pheidias. The tol-
erably developed style, and round, oval face, warrant us in placing this repre-
sentation of Attica's great patron goddess in the latter half of the sixth century.
On the Acropolis have been found several much-injured seated figures, clad
in long garments. One of these statues, having on the lap a diptyckon, is thus
probably characterized as a scribe or clerk of the accounts, and is dressed in
the old-fashioned, trailing Ionian garments.360 This figure was doubtless con-
secrated on the sacred mountain with a religious purpose. Its form and
subject call to mind Egyptian representations. Although the Egyptian scribe
is usually sitting on the ground, he is also often seen in small bronzes, raised,
as here, on a chair, as illustrated by figures in the Berlin Museum.361 But
the garments of Egyptian statues are without independent character, and
rest flatly against the body without folds ; whereas in
these works found in Attica, as well as in those found
on Delos, and described above (p. 194), the drapery was
represented at first by engraved lines ; then it becomes
somewhat raised, lying in small rolls over the form ; and
finally, in more advanced work, we see the drapery show
the form beneath, under lines and folds of natural fall.
From the study of twenty pedestals of tomb-monuments
of this time, it is evident that on some seven or eight
of them were standing statues, and on others seated
, . „ r r , .: ^^9 107. Spktfix ditoovrtd at
forms, especially of females.36a spata /» awoo. Athens.
A remarkable sphinx (Fig. 107), discovered among
the tombs at Spata, and of Parian marble, is one of the earliest monuments
in the round from Attic graves, but is more advanced than a similar figure
discovered on Delos (p. 195). It shows that strange monster with large wings
and smiling face. A calathos crowns the head, a necklace encircles the throat,
and about the face the hair lies in waves. This transformation from the Egyp-
tian Sphinx is probably traceable to the lonians of Asia Minor, where the male
monster of the Orient seems to have been changed into a female.363 This
enigmatical figure from Spata, arousing so many questions as to its relation-
ship, exact purport, and mythic significance, throws much light on the state
of sculpture in Attica in early times. It was evidently meant to be raised,
and seen from below ; since the back is left very much in the rough. That
the sculptor depended to a great extent upon color for his details is most evi-
dent. Its feathers still show red and dark green or blue ; the hair is brown ;
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2l6 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
and the head-dress is adorned in front with rosettes, scratched into the mar-
ble, and then painted. The face of this sphinx has the long oval, thin and
meagre, of the Nike by Archermos of Chios, and of the so-called Apollo of
Thera, another indication of the influence of the art of the islands upon Attica.
One other tombstone figure in the round, now in Athens, which from its
quaint style, and place of discovery in the wall of Themistocles, is supposed
to belong to the sixth century, shows us a seated female, very like several
works from the necropolis of Miletos, now in the Louvre. It is another
witness to the influences from the Asia-Minor coast upon early Attic sculpture.
Fig. 108, Part of Vie Tombatone of a Youthful Athlete. Athene.
Passing over to the reliefs which the old Athenians put up in memory of
their dead, we shall find that one of these, like the seated figure just men-
tioned, has a special interest, as confirming the historical incident recorded by
Thukydides, that, when the Athenians under Themistocles built about their
threatened city a wall of defence against the Persians, so great was their haste,
that even anpient tombstones from the neighborhood were torn down, and used
like common stone. In the ruins of this wall this quaint relief was discovered,
its date being thus certainly fixed as before the time of Themistocles. Having
done its part against the barbarian invaders, it is now rescued from oblivion,
and, in the museum of the Archaeological Society at Athens, receives due
honor from all students of early Attic art. Two fragments of this originally
long slab were found : on one part appears the head (Fig. io8), and on the
other the feet. In width it was only sufficient to admit of the tall, slender
figure that occupied it. Its confined limits may be due to Solon's sumptuary
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EARLY ATTIC RELIEFa 217
law, which restricted the dimensions of tombstones to so unpretentious a size
that ten men could execute a single one in three days. 364 We see here a
beardless youth, in whose hand is a disk, raised behind his head to the
shoulder; and we may imagine him as walking in the solemn procession.
How clearly this fragment shows obedience to that growing artistic feeling
which characterized the Greek sculptor alone ! Not content with an arid back-
ground, he sought to occupy it, not, as was done in older works, by the
artificial addition of rosettes and scrolls, but by filling the vacant space in a
graceful way with the composition itself. This is done here by the disk
which characterizes the athlete, and perhaps indicates further that he had
been a winner in the games. His long, stiff hair, gathered in a coil, which
was probably in reality of gold, illustrates one of the elaborate styles of old
Attic head-dress, and shows how desirable was the change to short hair after-
wards introduced. The youth's well-curved jaw, strong chin, short upper lip,
and liveliness of expression, are in his favor ; yet there is but little promise for
the future of Attic sculpture in the excessively plain face, with its protrait-
like, bulbous nose, swelling, superficially placed almond-shaped eyes, in full
front view (although the face is in profile), and high cheek-bones, together
with the clumsy, ill-drawn hand. The forehead and chin form one curve,
broken only by the abruptly protruding nose. In this early Attic relief, there
is as yet no sign of that true Greek profile (an artistic development of later
times) in which mouth and chin retreat decidedly behind the exquisite line of
brow and nose. The smirking lips of this youthful athlete are foreign to the
sweet digfnity of later Attic faces. But a certain exuberance of life is evident
in the beaming face, without the luxurious, sleepy fulness of the Ephesos
heads, which may indicate the dawning Attic spirit, as we have seen it also
in the Athena head (Plate I.).
Similar in style to this relief, is that figure inscribed Aristion, the work of
Aristocles (Fig. 109), and now in the museum of the Theseion at Athens.
Near the village of Velanidezza, on Marathon's plain, are several hillock-tombs,
having a hollow centre, in which ashes, vases, etc., are found, and from which
several ruined grave-chambers diverge, — a development, doubtless, of the older
form, as seen at Mykene and elsewhere. There the whole grave had to be
opened whenever a new burial occurred : here the separate chambers secured
undisturbed repose to those already interred. Near the top of one of these
large tombs was found the long, narrow slab on which Aristion appears, some-
what less than life-size.365 His firm posture ; his hair and beard, laid in precise
order; his helmet, armor, and lance, — mark him as one of Attica's sturdy
warriors of the good olden time. Judging from the letters of the inscription,
this monument must be placed before the end of the sixth century, and conse-
quently long previous to the battle of Marathon. The warrior's well-arranged
hair gives the impression of being prepared for battle, according to the custom
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ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
of the olden times ; and we notice that the eyes are in full front view, while
form and face are in profile. That below this erect soldier, in painted relief,
was an additional scene, which, being only painted, has now disappeared, may
be inferred from the tombstone of Lyseas, found but
a few steps removed, and which has the painting at
the base still preserved. 3^6
Under Lyseas' slender, draped figure, which is
wreathed, and carries an olive-branch and cantharos^
appears a youth on a galloping horse, referring,
doubtless, to some victory won by the deceased in
the Panathenaic or Panhellenic games, — a supposi-
tion strengthened by the fact, that a part of a second
horse is to be seen beyond the rider. The compari-
son of the letters of Lyseas' monument with those of
an inscription from the altar, dedicated (525-510 B.C.)
by the Peisistratidae, and found recently in Athens,
shows that Lyseas' tombstone is the older, thus giv-
ing us the date for similar monuments. 3^7 It is not a
little remarkable that the whole of the Lyseas' stele
is simply painted, while the Aristion and others have
painting and carving united on the same monument.
On these Attic tombstones, how different the
subjects from those found in Lykia or Sparta! Not
the bringing of offerings, or symbolic formulas of any
kind, meet us here, but the youthful disk-thrower, the
brave warrior, or the long-robed citizen, and the swift
racer, subjects taken from the stream of national and
real life, and appealing to all by their actuality. The
forms are still archaic ; but we see in these oldest
specimens of Attic art a spirit which should charac-
terize it, even in later times, and give it that attrac-
tiveness so foreign to the colder art of its neighbors.
These reliefs, contrasted with the heads already
considered, show how far Attic reliefs in this century
were in advance of statuary ; and that relief was na-
tive to the land, appears from the fact, that it is always
in Pentelic marble, while statuary is still in foreign
stone. In this light, the marvellous attainments made by Attic art in relief
during the coming, the fifth century, are better understood. We see a proph-
ecy of that future sureness in technique, and feeling for style ; since this supe-
rior skill in relief could not fail in time to influence statuary. It would seem,
as has been well said by Loeschcke, as though the connected flowing lines of
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fig, 109. TombatOM of Ariation,
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ANCIENT PORTRAIT HEAD. 219
the profile, the delicate moulding of the chin and cheek, which mark Attic
heads in the round, in the fifth century, as distinguished from those of the
Argive school, were due to the practice and feeling developed in first repre-
senting the profile of the face in relief. The Argive school, on the other
hand, developing exclusively statuary, seems to have worked more from the
front view, and thus came to emphasize the chin too strongly for beauty of
profile. 368
Opposite to Attica lies the large island of iGgina, which Pindar describes
as a great seat of commerce, a heaven-set pillar for strangers of every clime.
Here, there is reason to believe, was also a flourishing art in this sixth century.
Tradition gives us the name of Smilis as one of its oldest sculptors, who exe-
cuted a Hera for her great temple at Samos, as well as the Hours for the
Temple of Hera at Olympia.369 Of the Hera we may perhaps form a faint,
although not very favorable, idea, from figures of the goddess on ancient coins
of Samos, in which the extended arms seem to rest on supports, and the body
appears no better than a covered log.37o of works which can be assigned to
the sixth century, purporting to come from iEgina, there are very few. One-
of these, a marble head owned by M. Saburoff, is worthy of notice as a witness
to the attempts at portraiture made by the art of this olden time.37' This
head has very short hair and beard, and a carefully finished, fuzzy mustache.
The comers of the mouth have a friendly expression, and are well executed.
This care is seen also even in such details as the glands in the inner comers of
the eyes. Around the forehead the hair is represented with all the irregular-
ities of nature. The softness of the flesh is given admirably in the highly
finished cheeks, almost shining with their fine polish. But the protruding
eyes, and the ears adhering to the head, show the necessity of improvement
before the celebrated iEgina marbles in Munich could be produced.
Although no excavations have as yet been made at Chalkis or Eretria, very
ancient colonies of the lonians, and most important centres of trade during the
sixth century, still it is possible, from the analogy of vases and inscriptions,
that thence were exported to Italy very many of the bronzes which have, hith-
erto, been called Etmscan.372 Such are probably the horse-eared and horse-
hoofed satyrs, which are found in different places.373
Having mustered the characteristic specimens of very archaic sculptures
in Greece and its adjoining lands, we may turn to its colonies in Sicily and
Southem Italy. But one sculptor, Clearchos from Rhegion, who seems to have
been a scholar of Dipoinos and Skyllis, is mentioned from this remoter part
of the Greek world ; but of the works of this master we know almost nothing.374
Temple sculptures have, however, been preserved to us from the old colony
of Selinus in Sicily, and are now in Palermo. The mins of three temples
are still to be seen in ancient Selinus, which was founded by Doric colo-
nists from Megara in Sicily, a town which had itself been founded by Doric
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220 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
settlers from Megara in Greece in Olymp. i8. Selinus was settled, it is
believed, in the latter half of the seventh century ; and hence the reliefs of the
oldest temple must be dated after that time. The metopes are not in marble,
but in the limestone of the country, and measure each about one meter square.
They are decorated with mythological scenes in very high and round relief,
quite different from the flat and geometrical reliefs of Laconia, illustrated on
p. 206. On one, a beardless but lusty Heracles (Fig. 1 10) carries off the Ker-
copes brothers, those thievish knaves who, according to myth, were wont, despite
their mother's warnings, to waylay unwary travellers. 375 Their kidnapping
propensities carried them so far, that they fell upon the wandering Heracles, as
the hero slept beneath a tree, with his weapons by his side. Aroused by their
approach, he made them his captives, binding one to each end of a pole, which
he swung over his shoulders, and bore them away, as is represented in the
relief. In this condition, as the story adds, they had leisure to repent their
folly ; reminding one another of their mother's warnings, and expressing their
grief in so droll a manner, that the hero was provoked to laughter, and released
them. The second of these old reliefs (Fig. iii) represents another of the
favorite myths of the Greek religion, in which Perseus, in the presence of
Athena, the protectress of all Greek heroes, combats with evil, and cuts off
the head of Medusa, one of the three terrible Gorgon sisters. 37^ The gaze
of this monster was fabled to petrify all upon whom it was turned : but Athena
had taught Perseus to elude its fatal spell ; and in this relief he is represented
as giving Medusa the mortal wound from whose bloody drops already springs
up the winged horse Pegasos, which she holds in her arms. How anxious is
the ancient sculptor to make us acquainted with every detail of the story!
The successive events are crowded into the relief, as though occurring simulta-
neously. The bold and harsh naturalness of these figures makes them appear
almost a caricature of nature. The broad face given the Medusa is, no doubt,
intended to express the traditional and fear-inspiring conceptiou of that mon-
ster. And in the greater assurance with which it is rendered, we feel that the
sculptor is following an established type, already worked out for him, which is
not the case with the remaining part of the figure. The heavy proportions,
and round, vigorous build, of all the figures, speak a language, moreover, which
is unlike any thing we have met with before ; and there can be no doubt, that
these deeply carved sculptures, well suited for their place in the massive Doric
architecture they adorned, mirror local peculiarities which developed forms in
Sicily different from those in Ionia and Greece itself. Many details, not pro-
duced by the chisel, were brought out with color, traces of which are still visible
on Athena's cegis.
In looking back over the sculptures of the sixth century, preserved to us in
such stately numbers, one fact is very evident, that the old masters, in their
working, held on to given types, a few of which are happily preserved to us.
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ADVANTAGE OF TRADITION.
221
showing different stages of growth. Among such, for the nude form are the
figures often called Apollo*s, standing stiffly with the hands at the sides, or
with fore-arms raised ; for the draped, we have the seated figures of Miletos,
and the standing ones of Delos ; and in relief, the most interesting series of
gravestones from Sparta.
This holding on to certain old types was, as we have seen, a peculiarity also
of Egyptian and Oriental sculpture; but the Greek, unlike his predecessors,
freely handled such types, and boldly made innovations and improvements
upon them. There can be little doubt, however, that this clinging to certain
^ven types in his formative stage had a most salutary effect in keeping him
within bounds, and in developing a well-disciplined school.
While the ancient sculptor's imagination was gradually unfolding, and his
hand was thus gaining in skill, he was, we must believe, greatly influenced by the
=^^i^
^^1
^^r^ii
r
^ !
If ^Bv^^Hi ^ ^^^L ^^^^2jvy^^j^^^]^l
^'"^ ?J-^^^^^^
/7g. 770L Itttop* from Seiinut, Htrael— carrying of
tho Koroop99. Paiormo.
Fig, 111, Motopo from Seltnus, Porseus staying
tho Qorgon, Palermo,
sight of the rude puppet images of his gods, hung with precise drapery, and
overladen with jewellery, as well as by the sight of the people about him decked
out in Oriental taste, as were the lonians of old, or clad in the severely simple
robes of the Doric people. The lonians of Samos early wore an excess of jew-
ellery, following the custom of their neighbors, the Lydians. Long hair was
customary in Attica, for men as well as women ; and the cut of the Doric c/n'tou
was proverbially simple. The long Ionian garments, we are told, did not pass
out of use in Athens until the time of Pericles ; and the artificial cut and elabo-
rate folds of the statue of Hera, found on Samos (Fig. 96), may perhaps hint
to us what the sculptor saw in life. The dainty mode of holding the fingers, as
seen in grasping a sceptre, staff, vase, or flower, or in lifting the garment from
the ground, was, doubtless, likewise common in that quaint old time ; it being
said, that, in offering boxes of incense and the like, they were presented with
three fingers. The very particularity with which every seam, elaborate border.
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
222 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
or ornament, is given on the statues and reliefs of this olden time, goes to
prove that the sculptor saw such details in nature, and tried to reproduce them.
Those were the good old times honored in ancient song, which speaks of the
Samians wandering in Hera's sanctuary, with slow and solemn tread, in long
robes of snowy white, with hair in orderly locks about the head.377
But as in time the people develop a better taste, and truer sense of grace
and beauty, renouncing their overladen magnificence, and wearing their hair
and garments in a manner better suited to reflect the beauty of the form, thea
we shall see the work of art feel the change, the simplicity of natural grace
overcome the fussy attire and whimsical frisure of these older works, and the
intricate and artificial costumes of ladies on these early reliefs disappear before
the chaste simplicity of the maidens of later art.
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Google
CHAPTER XIV.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE, FROM ABOUT 500 TO ABOUT 450 B.C.: ASIA
MINOR AND THE ISLANDS.
Introductory. — State o£ Asia Minor and Greece at the Commencement of the Fifth Century B.C. —
Triumph of the Greeks over the Persians. — Its Results. — Exalted Position of Athens. — The
Development of Philosophy, Poetry, and Art. — The Athletic Games. — Their Antiquity. — Revival
of Olympic and other Games. — Honors awarded to the Victors. — Influence of Games on Art^
fhe Temple. — Its Purposes. ^ Plan of the Structure. — Its Adornments and Great Statue.—^
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Orders. — Influence of Painting. ^- Ionian Sculptures. — Lykian
Sculptures. -^Sculptures in the British Museum. — Leucothea Relief. — Sculptures and Terra-cot*
tas from the Islands. — Thasos Reliefs.-^ Philis' Tombstone.— iEgina. — Its Political Position.—
Traditional Character oi its Art. — Its Early Artists. — Preference for Bronxe. — Importance of
Statues of Athletes. — Glaukias, Gallon, and Onatas. — Remains of Sculpture at Olympia. — Onar
tas* other Works. — iEginetan Marbles at Munich. — Sculptures of West Pediment. — Their
advanced Archaism. — Sculptures of East Pediment. —Their Superiority to those of the West
Pediment. — Difficulty of forming a Correct Impression of these Marbles. — Their Authors. — Their
General Characteristics. — Dodona Bronze. — Strangford Apollo. — Marble Tombstone from
iEgina.
During the sixth century B.C., which we have discussed in the two precede
ing chapters, important changes had come over the Greek world. The armies
of the Persian king had conquered the Greek states of Asia Minor, which were
incorporated by that monarch into his empire. Every attempt at revolt had
been ruthlessly met, as in the destruction of Miletos. Thus the Ionian civili-
zation on the eastern shores of the iEgean had received a cruel check, and the
ambitious Persian now began to lust after Greece itself. The Greek states had
steadily developed independent institutions : Corinth had a profitable trade,
controlling the Western waters ; iEgina's fleets ruled the iEgean ; while Athens
was still absorbed in her internal affairs.
But the storm-clouds rolling up from the East threatened to ingulf the little
land ; and, in the first and second decades of the fifth century, Darius, and then
Xerxes, poured their hordes, collected from a vast empire, into Greece, laid
waste her sacred places, and destroyed Athens by fire. Terror fell upon all
the land, but not that of despair ; for the noble deeds of Marathon, Salamis,
Plataiai, and Mycale checked the conqueror's course. The Greek David over-
came the Eastern Goliath with the little stone of Hellenic freedom and culture.
Xerxes and his army were scattered, like forest-leaves before the autumn wind :
Digitiz^byV^OOvlC
224 ARCHAIC SCULFrURE.
and the monarch was a trembling fugitive. Some of the states had joined the
Persian king ; others, too feeble to share in the victories, had stood by ; but
Athens had been in the front of the conflict, and came rapidly to enjoy a position
which enabled her to dispute with Sparta the leadership of the Hellenic cities
after the Persian war. Comparative peace now long prevailed, when thank-
offerings were executed by the people of Greece at their great shrines. A
colossal Poseidon was put up on the isthmus of Corinth, consecrated by the
victors of Plataiai. A figure eighteen feet high, carrying in her hand a ship's
prow, was consecrated at the Delphic shrine, in honor of the naval victories
at Salamis and Artemision. A colossal Zeus was put up in Olympia ; and a
colossal bronze tripod, borne on the coils of snakes, was offered at the shrine
at Delphi, in honor of PlataiaL A part of these coils, with the names of the
sharers in the victories engraved upon them, now stands in the Atmeidan at
Constantinople ; and a piece of one of the serpents' heads, a masterly work of
archaic precision, in the little-known museum of St. Irene in the same city. In
state, Miltiades, Aristeides, Themistocles, and Kimon now made the histoVy of
Athens that of Greece, and brought it close upon the time of the great Pericles
(459 B.C). The wise rule of that statesman, and the unhappy civil war which
broke out in 430 B.C., raging until near the close of the century, give us the
remainder of the historical background of this greatest period in Greek history,
against which its art stands out in harmpnious relief. To the military glories
of this age was added that of poetry ; and how sublime the names that meet us !
The lyric poet Pindar aroused to religious fever by his odes during the earliest
quarter of the century, and consecrated numerous and costly gifts to the gods,
standing witnesses of his devotion. But not in the Peloponnesos or Boeotia
was poetic song the sweetest and strongest. In Athens it meets us a loud
chorus, in which many voices mingle. Craggy iEschylos, of a noble Attic
family, takes the lead in age, and with true Attic spirit is more proud to have
been one of the warriors of Marathon than the creator of sublime dramas.
His younger contemporary, Sophocles, who in the blooming beauty of youth
led the rhythmic dance at the celebration of the victory of Salamis, continued
till 405 B.C. to picture to the Athenians a world of highest and noblest thought
in dramas of perfect form. At the ripe age of ninety he was laid away to rest
in Colonos, honored by the people, and, as story says, by the great god Dionysos
himself. Euripides, about fifteen years Sophocles' junior, completes this trio
of Attic poets in the fifth century ; but his works belong in spirit to the time
that followed the Peloponnesian war, so full were they of passion and pathos.
But our picture of the poetic activity of this time would be incomplete did we
not call to mind the merry comedy, originating in the festivities of Dionysos,
and taking its scenes, not from the higher regions of poetic myth, but from
every-day life. Here we see the master Cratinos, followed by his still greater
scholar Aristophanes, who give us many priceless glimpses of that day, and the
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IMPORTANCE OF ATHLETIC GAMES. 225
important part which art then played. From all these poets we gain a vivid
picture of the manifoldness of Attic society, its gracefulness, earnestness, and
noble humanity, so wonderfully to be reflected in works of art of beautiful
simplicity and grandeur. In philosophy, Anaxagoras from the coast of Ionia,
and the Athenian Socrates, meet us. Thus many of the greatest names of
history in politics, literature, and philosophy are crowded into this hundred
years ; and, turning to sculpture, we find their worthy peers. But so numer-
ous and so varied are these masters, and so great is the progress made, that we
shall be obliged to consider each half of this century separately, — the first
including a stately group of older men, and those who should well-nigh free art
from all archaic restraint ; and the second half embracing within its limits the
highest names, such as Fheidias of Athens, and Folycleitos of Argos, with their
riper creations.
But before considering these masters, and the works of this great century,
let us cast a glimpse at those most important factors, the athletic games and the
developed temple structure^ which in their elements had, doubtless, long before,
influenced sculpture, but, in their perfected form, are most intimately bound up
with the great artistic creations of this age, and necessary to an understand-
ing of their purport and character. The athletic games of the Greeks claim
our special attention, as exerting an untold influence in the development of
physical strength and beauty among the people, as well as directly influencing
sculpture by affording constant and natural opportunity for the observation of
the human form in most varied attitudes, and by offering a field for plastic ex-
pression of that form in non-hieratic statues, put up to commemorate victory,
and proclaim the fame of the victor.37« From earliest times such competitive
games had been celebrated, each township having had its agonistic contests in
connection with the local worship. The Olympic games, which, as was be-
lieved, had been founded by mythic heroes, gained a national significance when
revived about 776 B.C., to be observed every four years ; and from this first
Olympiad the Greeks reckoned their chronology, so weighty was the insti-
tution in their eyes. During the sixth century, three other great national
festivals — the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean — likewise gained importance.
The Olympic games, which originally were simple, lasting but a single day, soon
burst the old limits, and became by the sixth and fifth centuries a complicated
factor in Greek culture. During the five days of the festival, war was hushed
throughout the land, and the peace of Zeus prevailed. Multitudes wandered
safely towards the retired valley as pilgrims. Each state sent ambassadors,
even from the most distant colonies ; the wealthiest citizens considering it a
privilege to bear the expense of this mission. Although the festival fell in
high summer, the sanctity of time and place forbade the assemblage to go with
covered heads. The discomforts of heat, dust, and the crowd, were outweighed
by the fact that each found that which satisfied him. Here were manly con-
Digitized by
iniycon- t
vJ^oogle
226 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
tests, gorgeous display, music, art, recitations by poets and orators, the re-unions
of friends, a great fair with crowded booths, hawkers, jugglers, fortune-tellers,
and strange saints, to enliven the scene ; while offerings burned on Zeus' great
altar, as well as on a hundred others throughout the sacred grove.
The athletic games consisted in double and sevenfold foot-races in the sta-
dion^ boxing, the pancraHon^ — a compound of boxing and wrestling, — and the
pentathlon, comprising five different games, — foot-racing, leaping, throwing the
disk, hurling the spear, and the wrestling-match. Besides, there were horse
and chariot races.
In Crete and Sparta, previous to Olymp. 15, athletes had run the race nude.
At that time this custom was introduced at Olympia, to be followed later in the
wrestling games. Married women were forbidden, on pain of death, to be spec-
tators ; the only exception being the priestess of Demeter, who had an honored
seat assigned her. The maidens of Elis were, however, allowed to run in cer-
tain races, but only every fifth year, and at the festival of Hera ; the race-course
assigned them being one-sixth less than that of the men. At the great Olym-
pic festivals all free-born Greeks, high and low, were permitted to enter the field,
provided they had complied with the rules ; but equestrian contests were neces-
sarily confined to the wealthy. The owners of horses and chariots, if not appear-
ing in person, might contend by proxy ; and great was the rivalry which sprang
up, as to the number and magnificence of these equipages. The recent exca-
vations at Olympia have brought to light the stadion for the foot-race, about
183 meters (600 feet) in length, where the point whence the runners started,
and the goal, may still be seen. 379 The site of the hippodrome to the south-
east of the stadion^ and parallel with it, has unfortunately been swept away
by the freshets of the Alpheios. The only preserved ancient hippodrome in
Greece, that on Mount Lycaion, measures about three hundred meters. It
was considered an essential part of the education of the Greek youth, to have
received instruction in the palastra, or wrestling-school ; and, in later life, every
citizen shared in the privileges of the gymnasium. In the north-west comer of
the ruins at Olympia may be seen the remains of a large gymnasium, 210.5a
meters long, and surrounded by rows of Doric columns, where the youth doubt-
less practised in leaping, racing, and hurling the disk. Close at hand is the
smaXX^T palastra for boxing and wrestling, surrounded by rooms and halls doubt-
less intended for dressing and bathing.380 Before admission to the games at
Olympia, the competitors were brought into the presence of the judgment-
visiting Zeus with his forked lightnings. There they sacrificed a boar on the
altar in the Buleuterion, the ruins of which have been found. Here they gave
their oath, that for ten months they had prepared for the festival by rigid ab-
stemiousness ; that they were freemen of pure Hellenic blood, and had not been
guilty of sacrilege. Finally they swore adherence to the regulations, the slight-
est infringement of which was punished with the heavy fine of a talent (twelve
Digitized by VjOOv IC
STATUES OF VICTORS IN THE GAMES. 227
hundred dollars). From the fines thus collected, bronze statues {zanes) began,
in the fourth century B.C., to be erected to the vengeance-visiting Zeus, along
the road which led to the stadion, — a warning to all competitors as they en-
tered. Pausanias saw sixteen such statues, and the recent excavations have
unearthed their pedestals; but of the dread statues themselves, all that has
been found are bronze fragments of the thunderbolts and a colossal foot.38'
Judges and competitors entered by a secret passage — recently found — the
stadion, where the youths, before assembled thousands, engaged in contest,
accompanied by the music of flutes.382 The contests ended, the judges assem-
bled in the great Temple of Zeus ; and while a triumphal hymn to Heracles,
the first winner in the games, sounded from the galleries, the victor was
crowned. Previous to Olymp. 7 (752 B.C.), the prize had been a costly tri-
pod, or a large sum of gold ; but afterwards it was a simple chaplet of olive-
leaves, cut with a golden knife from the tree which, according to myth, Hera-
cles had planted in the sacred grove. It is significant that the winner was
not permitted to take away with him this wreath, which was hung up in the
sacred place.
The victor's name, as well as that of his father and country, were sounded by
the herald before the representatives of all Greece ; and his name was enrolled
among those who had before distinguished themselves. On his return home,
he was welcomed with a brilliant ovation from his compatriots, who considered
the triumph won as their own. A breach was made in the city-walls for his
reception, to intimate, says Plutarch, that the state which possessed such a citi-
zen had no need of other bulwarks. Passing through in a chariot drawn by
four white horses, he was borne along the principal street of the city, to the
temple of the guardian deity, where hymns of victory were sung. Poets like
Pindar sounded the victor's praises ; he had a seat of honor at festivals, and, in
Sparta, a place by the king in battle ; he was paid a yearly revenue in some of
the states; while in Athens he ate at public expense, was freed from all
duties, and received a present of five hundred drachms. But a still higher
honor was awarded the Olympic victor ; and that was, the privilege of having
his statue put up in the sacred grove at Olympia, to be repeated in his native
town. These statues were seldom portraits, for such were allowed only to
those who had been thrice victorious. Possibly this restriction at Olympia was
directed against that old custom, according to which, as we have seen, the early
worshippers dedicated images of themselves to the gods. According to Pausa-
nias, the first statues to victors were stiff, wooden images, which began to be
erected Olymp. 59 (about 544 B.C.), but which must have soon been supplanted
by bronze. This custom, once developed, continued to be a source of employ-
ment to sculptors for many centuries, even down to the time of Roman rule, as
the recently discovered inscriptions show.383 These statues were often erected
long after the victory; the expense being borne by the victgij^j^lj^yH^^^a^g
228 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
friends, or native town. Before being accepted, statues were subjected to scru-
tiny from the judges, more severe, it is said, than that which the victors them-
selves had undergone. Moreover, the horses who had played an important part
in the triumph also came in for a share in these representations ; either bearing
their riders, or represented as harnessed before the chariot, and frequently hav-
ing their names inscribed. Often, however, as discoveries have shown, their
images were very small.384 How many masters were employed to people the
grove at Olympia with such commemorative monuments we shall see as we
take up the works from the early half of the fifth century.
But the temples at Olympia, as elsewhere, were also a most important factor
in influencing sculpture ; and recent excavations have thrown untold light on
the development and purposes of both. The temple served, not only to
shelter the statue of the divinity and the other gods, the guests, as it were,
of this divinity: it was also a treasury for the costly and abundant votive
offerings collected through the centuries. Moreover, the house of the god
served, in some cases, as the bank whence the state moneys were disbursed. 3^5
The oldest excavated temple on the soil of Greece, that of Hera at Olympia,
seems to have been pre-eminently a treasure-house ; and its very ancient form,
in which the walls of the sacred place were divided off into niches, something
after the manner of chapels in old Roman-Catholic churches, would have
afforded excellent shelter for the accumulated treasure.386 That the temple
building was also very frequently used for sacrificial worship, seems evident
from the pit discovered in two temples at Samothrake, into which flowed the
blood of the offerings.387 The distinction once made between temples of
worship and those in honor of the agonistic games, according to which the
latter were not sacred, but mere halls for festive gatherings, has melted away,
as an empty theory, before the discoveries which prove that the new great
temples, in which the prizes were distributed, were quite as holy as the older
ones, having the same relation to them that a new church-building nowadays
has to an old one.38« To the Greeks the games were, moreover, not a secular
institution. They were ordained by the oracle, like the hecatombs, to pro-
pitiate the gods, memorials of the combats which divine beings had fought
with the powers of evil. Zeus and Athena conquering the giants, Heracles
and Theseus overcoming the Amazons, were the mythic prototypes of the
combats, so religiously observed that they were commenced and closed with
sacrifice. Every thing in connection with them was holy. The judges purified
themselves in a sacred spring, the lots were drawn from a sacred urn, and
Pindar calls the decision a sacred one. Recent discoveries, moreover, make
it probable, that in front of the great temple-statues, both of Zeus at
Olympia, and of Athena in the Parthenon, an altar stood, whose smoke rose
up through the open space over the centre of the holy place or cella.2fi9
Following the guidance of the latest student of the Parthenoi^,
PLAN OF THE PARTHENON.
229
b'aaa&a^AAftAfl^aaflg
who has cleared away many difficulties, let us look at that crowning work of
Greek genius in which all the patient steps upward, all the experimenting
traceable in older temples, seem blended into a perfect organic whole.39o The
main body of the structure, completely encircled by a row of columns which
supported the roof, consisted of four distinct parts ; namely, two porticos and
their adjoining apartments (Fig. 112). In both porticos the pillars were
united to each other by a lofty bronze protection, doubtless open-work, reach-
ing away to the architrave, and forming a safe repository for treasure or costly
offerings. Through the pronaos^ or front portico, was entered the hecatompedos,
that sacred place where stood the great statue. Around three sides of this
space ran a row of columns, forming thus an encircling aisle. Not in a niche,
but within this colonnade, and receiving light from an opening in the roof, stood
the great temple-statue, so that worshippers walking in the aisles could view its
colossal form from all sides. That there was in the Parthenon an upper row of
columns supporting the roof, and forming
a gallery from which people could look
down upon the statue, does not seem
probable ; as no mention of such a gal-
lery has been made, and no steps have
been found leading up to it, as at
Olympia. In front of the statue was
the space above which the roof was
open, afiFording light. This space, in-
cluding the place occupied by the statue,
had a protecting screen around it, running from pillar to pillar, and serving,
doubtless, to keep off the crowd. In this part of the temple, the /tecatompedos^
occupied by the great statue, hung the wreaths, and stood votive offerings.
Against the deep red lining of the walls the mellow gold and ivory of the stat-
ues and the golden garlands must have formed a luxurious harmony of color, to
which the stem lines of columns, and easier ones of the statues, added their
simple beauty. Here each object was doubtless arranged with regard to its sur-
roundings, and in true taste ; as we may infer from the analogy of Delos, where,
as the order in the inscriptions intimates, there was genuine artistic grouping.39«
To the rear of this columned and richly furnished hecatompedos was a kind
of sacristy, but without a connecting-door. Here were stored the archives,
and all manner of objects used in the great festivals and ritual. The silver
vessels, here kept for the processions, numbered, at one time, one hundred and
fifty. Here were the garments and jewels worn at great festivals, as well as
booty, besides many injured objects, such as golden leaves fallen from the
wreaths, nails from the doors of the cella, and the like. Into this apartment,
called, in official language, the Parthenon, the access was through the rear
portico, or opisthodomosy in one part of which were kept the moneys of
Digitized by '
Ftg, 112. Qroun4'ptan of th% Parthenon, aoeordtng to
D6rpfel4.
;^*t5^
le
230 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
and in the other those of foreign gods, forming the bank of Athens and the
confederate states. From this the running-expenses of the city were defrayed,
— divine benefactions of the goddess, as it were, disbursed by her priests.
Indeed, the union of the temple service with secular public life explains the
fact, that coins long bore the head of divinity, which gave place to the portrait
of a ruler only when the very intimate connection between the god and the
republican states was changed by the stepping in of a single ruler, as came to
be the case in the Alexandrine age.
But these sacred structures, sheltering the nation's gods and treasure, were
themselves beautified by art ; their architectural marbles forming some of the
most precious witnesses to the ancient sculptor's skill. The original Doric
structure, as discoveries at Olympia and Sicily have shown, was of wood ; its
most exposed parts being protected by painted terra-cotta mouldings, which
were afterwards applied in like manner to stone. 39^ But of the slow process
of change from the painted wooden pillar and architrave ; from the wooden
cornices, with protecting terra-cotta mouldings; the painted terra-cotta disk
on the temple summit ; and from the plain, round water-spouts, and facings
of the cella'^zWsj of the same material or of metal, to their counterparts in
marble, in which the genius of the Greeks supplanted the old, cruder adorn-
ments with the highest creations of art, — of all this wonderful transmutation
we are left with scarcely a witness. Long centuries of experimenting must
have been required before sculpture found its appropriate place, and attained
that perfect harmony with the architecture which we find in the Doric, Ionic,
and Corinthian orders. In the sterner Doric, the massive columns were sur-
mounted by an entablature consisting of a heavy architrave, a frieze, and a
strongly pronounced cornice, as may be seen in the best specimen of Attic
Doric, the Parthenon (Fig. 113). In this architecture, as found on the soil
of Greece and in Sicily, the architrave {c) is always plain ; but in the old
temple at Assos, in Asia Minor, it is more ornate, being sculptured (see
p. 182). The Doric frieze {a) was composed of triglyphs and metopes (inter-
spaces), the latter being either painted or sculptured. In the Temple of Zeus
at Olympia, the metopes of this outer frieze were found to be void of sculpture.
In the so-called Theseion, at Athens, only the metopes of the front and back,
and one or two down the side, were sculptured ; but, in the Parthenon, the
whole number was adorned with bold, strong figures, in keeping with their
isolated character, and enhancing the impression of strength made by the firm,
erect lines of the triglyphs. The cornice surrounding the gutter, but not ap-
pearing in the engraving, was furnished with sculptural decoration, having
openings at intervals which served to spit out the water collected from the
roof. At first a tube, then a tongue, is found doing this service ; but finally
the whole head of the lion most suitably takes their place. At each end of
the temple, the sloping sides of the roof, with the horizontal lines of the en-
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
SCULPTURAL DECORATIONS OF ARCHITECTURE.
231
tablature, formed a triangular space {b), compared by the Greeks to the spread
wings of an eagle {aitos). Bold cornices formed a framework for these pedi-
ments, which could not fail to invite the sculptor's chisel. Little by little the
sculptors learned to use this space to the best advantage. At first cramped
and confined by it, at last we see, as in the Parthenon, architecture and sculp-
flg. 118. 7fi9 North-east Corner of the Parthenon aa it now atanda: {a J Metopea and Iriglypha; (6) Pediments
(c) Architraoe; (d) Frieze around Ceita and Portico.
ture combined in harmonious and vital union. The summit and ends of the
pediments likewise offered a spot for the sculptor's chisel in forming orna-
ments called acroteria ; but these are not preserved in the Parthenon, and do
not appear in the cut. In the very old Temple of Hera, at Olympia, a colossal
segment of a painted terra-cotta disk crowned the centre ; and it is probable,
that, in many other cases, figures likewise in terra-cotta crowned summit and
comer. At Olympia were found many fragments of such archaic figures, doubt-
less from the acroteria of the Treasure-houses, and representing lions, dolphins,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
232
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
and a Silenos carrying off a nymph, a motive frequently met with in early
Ionian coins. 393 This custom seems to have been copied by the Etruscans,
from whose graves several such crowning terra-cotta figures have been preserved
to us ; one of the most important, now in the Berlin Museum, being a winged
female carrying ofif in her arms a nude boy, and doubtless representing Eos
with Kephalos. In later buildings, as the temple to Zeus, at Olympia, huge
metal vases finished the ends of the pediments ; and a figure of the goddess Vic-
tory, of uncertain date, in gilded bronze, crowned its centre. At iEgina, grif-
fins, but of marble, hocked at the ends, and small female figures on each side
of a palmette, made up the central acroterion, all in the same material. A
recent discovery made by Furtwangler, at Delos, shows that there sym-
metrical and beautiful groups, but seeming large in
proportion to the pediment, crowned the temple
summit, and that the Romans, in their exaggerated
acroteriay only followed a Greek custom. The only
innovation in this line that Romans seem to have
made, was the tasteless addition of figures, even on
the sloping sides of the pediments, as was done in
the case of the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter.395*
The walls of the cella^ or sacred place, and the en-
tablature of Doric porticos, also sometimes received
sculpture (d). In the earlier Zeus temple at Olym-
pia, this was not, as in the Parthenon, a continuous
frieze running around the building, but was still com-
posed, like that on the exterior, of triglyphs and
metopes. The interior of the temple in one case,
namely at Phigaleia, was found to have had a frieze
around the top of the columns. In Sicily, in one case, colossal forms of giants
stood around the inner wall, as though supporting the roof (Fig. 1 14).
The more slender and luxurious Ionic and Corinthian orders received
sculptural decoration more calculated to enhance the impression of ease and
simple elegance conveyed by their architecture. The friezes were never
broken, but conceived as a running band, and consequently required a compo-
sition which carried the eye on from point to point without interruption. In
Ionia, but never in Greece, the bases of the columns were sometimes encircled
with reliefs, as in the temple at Ephesos ; and, indeed, the Ionic order allowed
greater freedom than its stern Doric sister. So a portico might be held by the
human figure instead of a column, as in the Erechtheion at Athens. Thus
fancy seemed to play with the severe architecture, suiting to its varying char
acter the more supple forms of sculpture.
Fig. 1 14. Qfanta of T9mpl9 of Zoua at
AeragoM, Modorn Qirgtnti. (Rtatorod.)
During the sixth century, the artistic activity of the Greek world had, as
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ADVANCED ARCHAIC MONUMENTS FROM LYKIA.
23S
we have seen, first developed along the coasts of Asia Minor and on the neigh-
boring islands. Following the geographical order pursued hitherto, we will,
in considering the sculptures of the first half of the fifth century, first take up
the art developed in these older seats, but shall find contemporaneous with it
far greater monuments and names in Greece itself. In order to picture to-
ourselves the state of art at this time in the older seats of Ionian culture, we
must remember the great part played by painting among that gifted, luxurious
people. The names of painters who flourished during the early part of this
great century are many : but, alas ! the memory of their works has, for the
most part, vanished altogether; the activity only of those who worked in
Athens being recorded for us. But that the
Thasian Polygnotos could now fill Athens
with great works, presupposes a schooling
and tradition in painting which we must not
forget in considering the sculptures of this
old age. Although the names of sculptors
from Asia Minor are not preserved to us,
— and doubtless the encroachments of the
Persians did much to check the culture of
that flourishing land, — still it is probable,
that, were Asia-Minor soil sufficiently exca-
vated, monuments of this age would there
also come to light. And, in fact, in Lykia,
that retired mountain land in the south,
happily many ripe archaic monuments have
been discovered, which seem to testify to
the prevalence of a growing art, the continuation, we must believe, of the
Ionian art of the earlier day, mingling, indeed, with the foreign elements it there
found. A marble relief, now in the British Museum, representing, doubtless,
a funeral procession, in which join horsemen, chariots, and footmen, certainly
shows an advance upon the lax, heavy forms of the Harpy monument; the
horses, especially, being rendered with much firmness. 394 Their curious trap-
pings are, however, not Greek ; and we see the same kind of artificial head-
gear as in Assyrian and Persian figures. Numerous reliefs of archaic sphinxes,
from tombs having beautiful female heads, with severe forms, showing that art
was not fully free, were also there found : some of these are in the British
Museum. These, set in as panels, decorated the facade directly under the
rounded top of those tombs peculiar to Lykia, one of which may be seen on
the right in Fig. i86. From Miletos, after the destruction of that city and
the removal of its treasures at the close of the sixth century, it is not strange
that we have no remains. From the remaining cities of Asia Minor the exca-
vator may yet unearth still buried treasure. That graceful relief in the Villa
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 116. Tombttone Reliefs In the Villa Albanh
Rome.
234
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
Albani at Rome (Fig. 1 1 5), falsely called the Leucothea relief, is doubtless the
tombstone of a Greek matron, and has some points of affinity with the scenes
in the Harpy monument in Lykia. The site of its discovery is not known,
but the marble is the same as that of monuments in Asia Minor ; as, for in-
stance, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassos ; besides, the head of the seated lady is
very like the type of an archaic Aphrodite on a series of old coins from Cnidos.
The general pose and attitude of the large, standing figure is the same as in
the relief of Apollo and the Graces from Ionian Thasos (Fig. 117). These
characteristics seem to point to an Ionian origin for this beautiful old monu-
ment. Here we see a matron on a graceful chair, beneath which is her basket
for wool to be used in spinning, showing her to be a faithful housewife. On
later reliefs the deceased often appears actually spinning, with her basket by
her side. Here, however, the mother, with basket put aside, seems to fondle
Ftg. 116. Terrweotta Relief from Meioe. Elwtra at Agamemnon's Oraoe, Louore.
her babe; while other children and a friend approach, one bringing a fillet
{tcBnia)y and the others raising the hand in adoration. The fillets of wool, we
shall find, played a most important part in Greek worship and religion. When
wreathed with them, every person or thing was set apart as holy, were it priest,
sacrificial victim, temple-key, or tiny vase. So many were required, that we are
told that women in the market-places made their living solely by their sale.
The exact significance of the fillet is, however, uncertain in this scene. The
style of the relief is so advanced, that it must belong to an age when sculpture
had well-nigh outgrown its old limitations, and was ready to burst all bounds,
perhaps some time after the beginning of the fifth century B.C.
The islands promise much, if M. Homolle's discoveries in Delos may be
a harbinger of what is to come. The more developed members of the group
of statues from that island mentioned on p. 194 f., certainly belong in the time
now under consideration ; their gracefully quaint forms and drapery taking cap-
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TERRA-COTTA REUEFS FROM THE ISLANDS.
235
tive every eye.395 Archaic reliefs of advanced style in marble are as yet scarce
from the islands. A curious class of terra-cottas in open-work {djour)^ and evi-
dently once applied to wood or stone as decoration, have, however, been found
in numbers, especially on Melos, and doubtless mirror in their varied subjects
and treatment the more advanced stages of early Ionian art. They are well
represented in the British, Berlin, and Paris museums. One of them seems to
^how us a scene from daily life ; but possibly it is from the story of Alcaios
and Sappho, the same group appearing on a painted vase in Munich, where
their names are added.396 The greater number of the subjects of these in-
teresting terra-cottas, however, represent mythic scenes, and show in their
incipient stages motives carried to perfection by a freer art So the sphinx
Fig. 117. Part of a /feUef In Marble found on Thaaoa, Louvre,
■carries off a youth, perhaps Haimon, son of Creon ; and, on others, Bellerophon,
mounted on Pegasos, slays the Chimaera ; Perseus rides away after slaying the
•Gorgon; Eos carries off Kephalos; and Cassandra, pursued by Ajax, takes
refuge at the sacred image of Athena.397 One of the most important of these
terra-cottas is a gayly colored relief in the Louvre, on which occur the names
of Electra and Agamemnon (Fig. 116); making it clear that here Electra,
mourning by her father's tomb, is addressed by her brother, just returning
from his exile. As in all early art, so here, the artist, full of the charming
details of the story, has crowded the shifting scenes of song into one short
space ; and yet how well he has succeeded in conveying to our minds the sor-
row of Electra, even in her constrained figure seated before the palmette-
crowned grave, marked with her father's name ! Like the celebrated figure of
the Vatican called Penelope, she sits with one hand on the rock and the other
supporting her bended head ; while Orestes, accompanied by his friends, ap-
proaches, and is about to address her. These quaint terra-cotta reliefs,
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236 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
although mirroring the old, stiff style, may have been executed during the
latter part of the fifth century, and not at the time we have under consider-
ation ; since the humbler artists in vases, and doubtless also terra-cotta, were,
we know, conservative, and only gave up the old forms after changes had been
introduced and innovations made by the greater masters in bronze, marble, and
chryselephantine ; but, even though late, they must mirror the older style.
From Thasos, the home of the great Polygnotos, is a beautiful relief, now in
the Louvre, dedicated to Apollo, the nymphs, and Hermes 398 (Fig. 117). In its
well-nigh developed style, its struggles with old forms, and still its attainment
of grace and genuine artistic truth, we doubtless have a noble witness to the
efforts of Ionian art on this island in the north of the iEgean Sea. As this
relief now stands in the Louvre directly below a slab of the Parthenon frieze^
the affinity, and still the contrast, is most striking. We can, in viewing it^
realize, that from such graceful, though still restrained, efforts, the lofty grace
of the Parthenon maidens might easily flow. From this island is also a tomb-
stone relief of rare dignity and grace, now removed to the Louvre, and repre-
sented on Plate II. of the Selections from Ancient Sculpture accompanying this
work. From the inscription we learn that this tombstone relief is of a lady,
Philis by name, who here appears seated quietly, and holding her toilet-box^
out of which she seems to be taking a roll. How easy and graceful her pose,
and what freedom marks her drapery ! the numerous buttonings over the right
shoulder calling to mind a like feature in the Samos Hera, and only in the end
dropping by her chair do the zigzag, regular folds of archaic art appear. Her
hair in regularly laid curls, and the shape of the eye not yet fully in profile,
are other features indicating that this is the work of a man who has not yet
attained the full sculptural freedom seen, for instance, in the Parthenon frieze.
And how near of kin it is in style to that frieze, but especially to the Attic
tombstones of a perfect art, will appear on comparing it with the lovely Hegeso
(Fig. 211). In Philis' beautiful tombstone it would seem as though the sculp-
tor treated the sleeves, the cheek turned towards the observer, and parts of
the drapery over the limbs, as if to be colored ; since they lack those deeper
indentations which bring out the forms by strong shadows. But little more is
needed ; and these forms, so quaintly modest and graceful, will blossom into
true, full beauty. In contemplating this fragment from Thasos, and remember-
ing that there Ionian art must have flourished with great strength to produce a
man like the painter Polygnotos, who carried his art to Athens, we may, no
doubt, with safety consider such priceless marbles as typical of the subjects
and style of work from which the later Attic masters learned, climbing then to
still greater perfection.
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iEGINETAN MASTERS. 237
iEGINA.
Approaching the coasts of Greece, the first great centre to attract attention
is the island iEgina, in heroic times the mother-country of Peleus and Telamon.
Its early inhabitants were seafaring merchants, having emporiums from Umbria
to Egypt. They were able to drive the Samian pirates from the sea, hanging
up their naval trophies on their temple to Athena, and became the first mari-
time power on the Archipelago. When, before the opening of the Persian war,
Darius required the humiliating acknowledgment of his authority in the ofEering
of earth and water, iCgina yielded to his demand, and, it is said out of jeal-
ousy, joined the barbarian king against Attica and the other Greek states. It
afterwards repented of this unworthy step, and fought bravely against the
Persians, but never ceased to hate Athens, and to excite strife between that
city and the Peloponnesos. For this the islanders were, later, severely pun-
ished, and, being deprived of their independence, were made tributary to the
sister state m 456 B.C. Still later, Athens expelled these troublesome neigh-
bors from their island, of which, in 431 B.C., Athenian colonists took posses-
sion. With this loss of freedom, iEgina appears also to have lost its place as
one of the vigorous art-centres of Greece.
The sculpture of this island, although always mentioned with praise, is in-
variably characterized by the ancients as harsher and sterner than that of
Attica. The iEginetans were said to have kept the feet of the gods stiffly
together long after Attic artists had loosed them, and, as it were, made them
step out.399 Smilis, as we have seen, is the first known iEginetan sculptor,
and lived probably in the earlier part of the sixth century, between Olymp.
50 and 60.
Subsequent to him, there is somewhat of a gap ; but there meets us a group
of important men between Olymp. 70 and 80 (500-460 B.C.). Most celebrated
among these were Gallon and Onatas ; while their minor contemporaries, Glau-
kias, Anaxagoras, and Simon, likewise executed important commissions. The
creations of these men are all directly connected with bronze working, which,
we may believe, the iEginetans had learned from the Samians, with whom they
must early have been in close communication ; their first sculptor, Smilis, having
executed at Samos the great statue of Hera for her temple. -£ginetan bronze,
indeed, came to be so famous that it was preferred, even by masters outside of
the island. But the nature of this superiority is unfortunately unknown, the
composition of the various kinds of antique bronze being one of the secrets of
the past. Even in Roman times, what the Romans called " Corinthian bronze,"
containing gold, could no longer be manufactured. Rare and beautiful vessels
and ornaments, discovered by von Duhn in 1878, in a grave at Suessula in South-
em Italy, were found to have gold in composition, and may illustrate this ancient
Digitized by
v^oogie
238 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
kind of bronze.400 Most prominent among the objects executed by iEginetan
masters are the statues of victorious athletes for the sacred grove at Olympia.
Of the works of Glaukias, — whose activity, reckoning for the time of the
athletes he celebrated, must have been between Olymp. 70 and 80, or the first
half of the fifth century, — only figures connected with the Olympic games are
mentioned. He executed for Gelon of Syracuse a chariot and four horses
(qtuzdriga)^ in honor of a victory in the Olympic chariot-race, and added a statue
of the owner, that Sicilian tyrant. 4o» A part of the pedestal of this group,
bearing an inscription with the artist's name, was discovered at Olympia in
1878.402 Glaukias executed a statue of Theagenes of Thasos, the most hon-
ored of all Greek victors. According to Pausanias, he had won thrice in the
Pythian, nine times in the Nemean, eleven times in the Isthmian, games, and
twice at Olympia.403 A fragmentary record of such victories was recently
foimd at Olympia, inscribed on a broken marble block, and probably belonged
to Theagenes* monument.404 He received no less than fourteen hundred
wreaths in recognition of his skill, as well as numerous statues from Greeks
and barbarians, which were reputed to have power to heal diseases, and were
honored with religious rites. 405 Another iEginetan master, Anaxagoras, exe-
cuted for all Greece, after the successful battle of Plataiai, for the shrine at
Olympia, a colossal bronze statue of Zeus, to the erection of which a part
of the Persian booty was appropriated. 406 Of the iEginetan sculptor Gallon,
a scholar of Tectaios and Angelion, only two works are mentioned, — one a
tripod with a figure of Core at Amyclai, and the other a wooden Athena for
the Acropolis at Troizen.407 Were it not that Quintilian mentions him with
Hegias, Pheidias' first teacher, as an exponent of a stiff and hard style, in con-
trast to Calamis, we should be entirely in the dark as to the work of this
iEginetan master. 408
Our knowledge of Onatas, a younger contemporary, whose works were
greatly praised, is more satisfactory. Judging from the commissions he re-
ceived, Onatas was a celebrated man by 465 B.C. He executed for far-off
Syracuse a chariot and horses with charioteer, in honor of the Olympic victory
of Hieron, tjrrant of Syracuse ; receiving the commission from Hieron's son,
Deinomenes, soon after his father's death.409 Onatas' treatment of one subject
is of interest as indicating that in him iEginetan art rebelled against the con-
ventionalities of earlier times. The shrine of Demeter Melaina at Phigaleia,
in Arcadia, was a holy place, whither Pausanias made a special pilgrimage, and
brought offerings of fruit, honey-comb, wool, and oil. Its old wooden idol, as
he was told, being destroyed by fire, Onatas was required to replace it. This
old image represented the goddess seated on a rock, and having the form of a
woman, with the head and mane of a horse. Out of this head sprang snakes
and reptiles. A black garment covered the body to the toes : one hand held a
dolphin and the other a dove, thus making up a repulsive and cert^n]
MARBLES FROM iEGINA. 239
tive form. Onatas did not reproduce this monster, but varied from the origi-
nal, producing a statue in the spirit of his time. From the charge of too great
license, he exonerated himself by saying that the divinity had appeared to him
in a dream, and authorized him to alter the old form.4>o Of Onatas' bronze
Apollo for Pergamon, we have only Pausanias' laudatory but very general ex-
pressions ; and, of his Hermes for Olympia, we learn that the god carried a goat
under the arm, and that Onatas' son and pupil, Calliteles, assisted in its exe-
cution.4" For the people of Thasos he executed in bronze a colossal Heracles
carrying club and bow. This work, with its bronze pedestal, was seen by
Pausanias in the Olympic shrine. 4" Two large bronze groups by this master
have a more direct interest for us, as showing many points of resemblance to
the celebrated iEginetan marbles. The first of these consisted of an assem-
blage of ten bronze figures, representing the scene in the Iliad where the Greek
heroes draw lots held by Nestor, to decide who should meet Hector in single
combat. On one of the statues Pausanias read the name of Agamemnon, writ-
ten in archaic style. In another he recognized Idomeneus, from the cock on
his shield, and tells us that the Odysseus had been carried off by Nero. To the
statue of Nestor was given a separate pedestal over against the rest.413 The
pedestal of this group of heroes, in the shape of a segment of a circle, was
found at Olympia, about fifteen meters from the south-east corner of the Tem-
ple of Zeus ; and opposite to it was a small, round pedestal of the same coarse,
porous stone, on which Nestor must have stood.414 Judging from the size of
Uiese remains, the heroes were nearly life-size. Pausanias tells us further, that
they were not clad in full armor, but wore only helmet, shield, and lance, indi-
cating that preference for nude forms which will be noticed in the -^ginetau
marbles. The grouping of these nine heroes on the narrow semicircular basis
could, however, have been little more than a simple arrangement in a row, more
simple even than that of the iEgina marbles. The other large bronze group
by Onatas at Olympia, a thank-ofEering from the people of Tarentum for victory
over the barbarian Peuketians, included horsemen and foot-soldiers. Here the
hostile king Opis was represented as fallen ; and on either side were Taras and
Phalanthos, the heroic founders of Tarentum.4»5 Owing to obscurity in the
historical records, it is uncertain whether Onatas was assisted in this work by
a sculptor Colynthos, or his son Calliteles. Such are our literary records of
the sculptors of iEgina.
The Glyptothek, in Munich, contains no greater treasure than its marbles,
discovered by a company of English and German scholars in iEgina in 181 1.
They were bought by Prince Ludwig of Bavaria for thirty thousand dollars,
who had them restored by Thorwaldsen and Wagner.4'6 These figures in Par-
ian marble once adorned the pediments of Athena's temple, of which the
crumbling columns, on the heights of iEgina, still overlook the blue waters
of the Saronic Gulf. In both groups appeared a conflict about ^^^ J^4XPl^i/>
igi "ze y ^
240
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
CC^
y^^
T
v/
K
I
C^
hero fallen at the feet of the goddess Athena, stand-
ing in the middle of the pediment.
In number and arrangement, the figures in the
two pediments corresponded exactly one with the
other, as has been proved by Prachow and Lange
from the fragments in Munich.4»7 Besides, the two
halves of each pediment in composition were exact
repetitions of one another. On each side of the
goddess was a bended hero, stretched over as if to
snatch the d)dng man l)dng at her feet ; and this
correspondence in the figures continued away to
the corners of the pediment, as will be seen from
the plate which follows Lange's restoration (Fig.
1 1 8). The subject of these marbles is clearly from
the Trojan combat, where Greeks, under the protec-
tion of Pallas Athena, were led on to battle by their
greatest heroes, the -^ginetan-born sons of Aiacos.
The sculptors have failed to individualize the com-
batants ; but it is, probably, a fallen Achilles about
whom the battle rages in the west pediment, and,
in the east pediment, perhaps Oicles. The fierce-
ness of the contest about Achilles' body, as told in
the iEthiopis, that ancient epic by Arctinos of Mi-
letos (770 B.C.), gives us a conception of the im-
portance laid upon the possession of the body and
armor of the fallen. The poet tells us that Achilles,
while struggling to gain an entrance at the Scaian
gate, was smitten by Paris' fatal arrow. About his
body, fabled to be as beautiful as that of his mother,
Thetis, the sea-nymph, and as powerful as that of
his mortal father, Peleus, there arose a stormy con-
flict. The Greeks were spurred on by their belief
that the hero's soul would forever wander a rest-
less shade were he deprived of burial, as would be
the case if in the enemy's hands ; and the Trojans
by the prospect of bearing away from the battle-
field the greatest champion of Hellas, and his
armor the proudest trophy. All day long the bat-
tle lasted ; mountains of slain warriors lay heaped
up about the body; and no respite came until
Zeus in a hurricane parted the contending foes.
The intense desire to secure the armor of the
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
WEST-PEDIMENT SCULPTURES, iEGINA. 24 1
fallen, and, still more, for burial, continually appears in Greek literature, —
a feeling which is still strong in Greece, where it is believed that the souls of
the unburied ever wander as unhappy shades.4>8
The marbles of these two pediments were long branded alike with the slur
"archaic and iEginetan," until Brunn drew attention to decided differences
in them, showing the one facing the west to be stiffer, and hence the older.
To the sculptures of this west pediment, then, we naturally first turn. Here
Athena, standing in the midst of the conflict, and arrayed in armor for the
stfem tasks of war, towers above the human warriors on each side, and, filling
up the full height of the pediment, by her greater size symbolizes her divine
superiority. In one hand the goddess holds her protecting shield extended
over the fallen helpless hero at her feet, and in the other was doubtless origi-
nally her lance. On her shoulders, and hanging down her back, lies, like a broad
cloak, the dread (B£^, its shaggy rim, according to Homeric song, bordered
with terror, and in its centre the Gorgon head, "deformed and dreadful,** a sign
of woe. The holes round about the outer edge of the agis indicate that it was
once fringed with serpents* heads made of separate pieces of marble, or perhaps
bronze. The Gorgon head in the centre was doubtless also of metal, and
traces of color on the rest of the agis indicate that it was painted. The god-
dess wears the closely fitting Attic helmet with its high crest, now broken
away. Over a fine under-garment, visible only under the arms, is carefully laid
her generous outer mantle, falling below the cegis down to the feet in regular
folds and ends. This drapery, although precise, is not monotonous, like imi-
tated archaic works. The folds grow agreeably wider towards the bottom ; and
the zigzag end is enlivened by little depressions, producing pleasing variations
of light and shade on the surface. But these attractions of the quaintly draped
figure, of course, do not appear in the tiny cut, and must be sought for in the
presence of the marble itself. Such of the hair as appears is carefully divided
into masses, one falling over the brow, two others at the side, and one down
the back, and is represented in stiffly parallel wave-lines. Traces of color, and
the holes in her forehead, as well as a bronze curl left on the temple of another
statue, show that many details were left to color and bronze. From her ears
doubtless hung metal ear-rings, but of other jewellery there is no sign. How
constrained and unnatural her position ! Every indication of the female form
is absent. The set lines of her garments appear in striking contrast to the
figures of the nude, bending warriors about her, in which the details of the
strained forms are admirably given. The sculptor, perhaps, had floating before
his mind some time-honored Palladium clad in holy garments, such as we see
painted on vases, and from whose traditional pose, with all his skill in the nude,
he did not venture to break away. It may well be questioned, however,
whether it would have been possible for these early artists to have represented
naturally the form of the goddess beneath the heavy agis and long, full drapery ; ^
Digitized by V^OOQIC
242 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
for that the Doric sculptors of the Peloponnesos devoted their energies mainly
to the execution of nude statues is well known.
The warrior at Athena's feet, calling to mind the subject of Onatas* rep-
resentation of king Opis for the Tarentines, falls with his head towards his
friends, and should lie, as represented in the cut, directly in front of the god-
dess. Like most of his comrades, his armor consists of but a helmet and shield^
reminding us of the nudity of Onatas' Homeric group at 01)rmpia. Fragments
indicate that nude warriors, one on each side of Athena, stretched forward in
exactly the same position to catch the body or armor of the fallen man. In
the corresponding figure preserved from the east pediment, we see with what
boldness the artist must have balanced a heavy mass of marble, and given it all
the energy and muscular action of this strained position. A hole in the arm
nearest the pediment indicates that these statues alone, of the twelve or four-
teen which occupied its shallow space, were fastened to the wall behind {tym-
panum). These bended warriors, eager to secure the fallen, were sustained on
each side by two nude but helmeted combatants, standing in front, and fighting
with shields and lances. Conjecture has given to the warrior at Athena's
right the name of Ajax, according to Homeric song "the bulwark of the
Greeks." The one on the left may be iEneas, his opponent, the leader of the
Trojan hosts. Concerning what immediately accompanied these two standing
warriors, there has been much controversy. Lange sees grounds for supplying,
as their companions, two missing figures, standing one on each side, beyond,,
and somewhat in the rear ; although his arguments are still considered insufl5>
cient by some.4'9
The relative position of the following figures, a fully-armed kneeling archer,,
and a nude kneeling spearsman on each side, is doubtless incorrect as they
now stand in the Glyptothek, in which the restorers have given the archers
tall helmets. The arrangement suggested by Brunn would be far truer to the
original, and is followed in Lange's restoration (Fig. ii8). Here these helmets
are replaced by lower ones, and the archers are made to kneel behind instead
of in front of the spearsmen : thus the space is better filled, and the outlines
of the composition made easier. The archer to Athena's left is difEerently
armed from the corresponding figure on her right side, and wears a close jacket,,
with sleeves and trousers reaching the heels, and a leathern cap. This style
of dress marks this archer as Asiatic ; thus making it probable that his side of
the pediment represents the Trojans, and the opposite the Greeks. This ar-
mor has, moreover, won for the figure that wears it, the name of Paris, wha
shot the fatal arrow at Achilles. At the extreme ends of the pediment, and
sundered from the conflict, lie two warriors, — the Greek pulling an arrow
from his wound, and the Trojan sinking in death. Both of these are thor-
oughly nude, and wear long hair, which forms a double row of faultless curls
around their foreheads, and falls down their backs in a long mass. How iron
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STYLE OF WEST-PEDIMENT GROUP. 243
the symmetry observed in this pedimental group 1 The exact correspondence
of the figures on each side will strike every observer, and call to mind the like
S)rmmetry in the pediment of the Megara Treasury at Olympia, described
above on p. 211. But, in these iEgina marbles, a single figure occupies the
centre of the pediment, instead of a divided group, as in the Megara pedi-
ment : besides, the combatants move more agreeably towards the centre, and
do not rush away from it, as in those marbles where they seem in danger of
striking their heads against the hard, sloping lines of the cornice. But, in
spite of the decided improvements upon that earlier work, the composition of
this i£ginetan group is still too clearly artificial strongly to appeal to us. The
prime excellence of its marbles lies, then, not in their composition, but in that
pervading correctness in the well-developed muscles, and the excited move-
ments of the bodies, rendered with understanding of the form. The artist
does not attain complete naturalism, and doubtless did not strive for it : the
great emphasis seems laid upon the bony framework and its muscular envelope.
He gives the collar-bones their'true proportions and direction, thus determin-
ing the height and breadth of the shoulders. He always emphasizes the breast-
bone, and even the prominence at its base, only visible in nature when the body
is erect. The true and false ribs are correctly given : the well-built upper part
of the body connects with the lower by an easy and natural curve of the back,
quite different from the rigid and exaggerated lines of earlier statues. The
loins are still narrow compared with the shoulders, but in the greater shallow-
ness of the triangle at the lower end of the pelvis there is a nearer approach
to nature than in statues of the sixth century. The limbs are long in propor-
tion to the trunk, and give the impression of a lack of massive strength. Upon
this framework the sculptor has intelligently spread out the muscular system.
The intercostals weave naturally in and out of the ribs, and the muscles of
arms and legs appear in true proportions. The perpendicular and horizontal
furrows of the abdomen are always visible ; but the stifHy uniform space be-
tween the horizontal muscles compares unfavorably with the more natural divis-
ions in archaic Attic forms, as will appear on comparing these iEginetan works
with the group of Aristogeiton and Harmodios (traceable to an Attic origi-
nal), where the two lower spaces are considerably wider than the one above.
Moreover, the flatness of the stomachs in these iEginetan figures from the west
pediment calls to mind the same characteristic in earlier statues. The heads
are small, the eyes protruding and Chinese-shaped, the eyebrows at an ugly
obtuse angle, the noses and upper lips short, the chins long and square, and the
tightly closed mouths of every one of these warriors, whether fighting or dying,
are drawn up as though smiling. The hair lies in locks resembling strings of
macaroni^ or in precise curls like rows of snail-shells. Age is distinguished
from youth ^mply by the addition of a beard. Very few veins are rendered ;
and no intimation is given of the underlying layers of fat which in nature
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244
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
conceal the sharp muscular outlines, and impart to the skin an easy and grace-
ful flow. Throughout these forms only what is essential is represented. The
casual appearances of nature, as well as the life bursting from within, is left
unexpressed. The muscles seem to drive the machinery of the human frame,
but fail to link the members so as to suggest lifelike motion. The warriors
fight like recruits on the drilling-ground, not like trained veterans on the battle-
field ; and their arrows and lances we are sure can never fly to reach the enemy.
But the stern system of sharply defined plastic forms offered us by the -^gine-
tan sculptors can only be the result of thoughtful, painstaking study, and long-
continued method. And so these men appear, not as experimenting each in
vague and erratic individual endeavors, but as developing sure artistic princi-
ples to become one of the priceless heirlooms of Greek sculpture.
Fig, 119. A Fallen Warrior from the East Pediment of the Temple of Athena on ^glna. Hunleh.
Of the sculptures of the east pediment, at the opposite end of the temple,
five figures only were tolerably preserved ; but from these and other fragments
we may see, that, with very minor deviations, the composition was the same as
in the pediment already described. But the execution of the individual statues,
which are on a larger scale, is far superior. Here, also, Athena was the cen-
tral figure, clad in the same quaint and bound drapery ; but over her extended
left arm and hand was caught up the fear-inspiring cegis, as though to be used
as a weapon. In her right hand a lance was brandished, and her whole move-
ment was more aggressive than that of the quiet Athena of the eastern
pediment. At her feet was, as in the eastern group, a fallen warrior, who,
however, lay on his back, not sinking in death as there, but feebly defending
himself from the enemy about his head. That he wore more aijnor than the
corresponding fallen figure in the other group, appears from his greaves, which
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EAST-PEDIMENT SCULPTORES, iEGINA. 245
are not seen on any figure of the west pediment. The enemy he fears, and
who is bending over to catch his armor, should have been restored with a
helmet already in his hand, as one of the existing fragments indicates. 420 The
fallen warrior (Fig. 119) of the comer also has a helmet and shield; while those
of the other pediment were without armor, and thoroughly nude. But with
what skill the armor was rendered may be seen from the figure of the kneel-
ing archer, appearing in two views on Plate I. of the supplementary Selec-
tions from Ancient Sculpture. He wears a lion's skin, characterizing him as
Heracles. So admirable is the composition of this statue, and so exquisite
indeed is the finish, even of the back, that one is at a loss to determine which
is the front side, and hence in which end of the pediment the figure kneeled.
The presence of this vigorous, youthful Heracles in his helmet of lion's skin,
and armed with his bow, has led to the conjecture that this group has refer-
ence to the conflicts of the iEginetan Telamon against the Trojan Laomedon,
the iEginetans coming off victorious through Heracles' friendly aid. This
beardless figure, we note, has not the bulky, massive form of the Heracles of
later art, but a strong manliness marks the face. Every trace of the set
conventional smile on the faces of the warriors of the other pediment has faded
here, and a stem earnestness has taken its place. Small fragments of a
corresponding kneeling archer, but in Asiatic garments, on the opposite side
of the goddess, were also found.
How admirably the old sculptor could represent a man of years sinking in
the last stmggle, we see in this fallen warrior of the left comer (Fig. 119).
His farther leg, now restored as drawn up, should, according to the fragments,
have been more lax, thus lending a truer rhythm to the statue. His face
faintly expresses suflfering. The glands in the corners of the eyes, and the
teeth seen through the half-opened lips, impart to the face the look of being
well-nigh fixed in death, as the darkness described in Homeric lay " gathers
over his eyes." This head, suggesting in its forms the pathos of death, was
copied with strange inappropriateness for the erect form of a fighting warrior
of the same pediment in Thorwaldsen's restoration. 42"
This dying warrior shows how great the advance made in the eastern pedi-
ment on the earlier group at the opposite end of the temple ; and, in fact, the
comparison of the two is a most interesting illustration of development in the
art-spirit, while holding on to a given type. Were it not for the old severity
clinging to this head, especially about the beard, we might consider this won-
derful statue, with its well-proportioned, rhythmical structure, softly flowing
skin, and pulsating veins, to be the work of a master thoroughly freed from
the trammels of earlier art. Throughout this later group the proportions
between loins and shoulders have become correct, and indeed admirable, as
may be seen in this fallen warrior. Even in minor details there is greater
tmth to nature : thus, while in the west pediment the middle toes are of equal
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; ui euucij I
246 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
length, here they are made, as in life, unequal The former leanness has
yielded to a more natural roundness, the veins are, moreover, swollen, and
casual folds in the skin are expressed, as we see in the noble forms of the
fallen warrior and Heracles. The impossible lines of the hair, so like strings
of macaroni, and rows of shells or beads, are superseded by freer ones; the
beards are more easy ; the finely executed ears do not appear as if fastened on
from the outside, but as if growing with the head ; the eyes are less Chinese-
shaped ; and the comers of the mouth have loosened, causing the stereotyped
grimace to disappear from the strong faces of the warriors. In both groups,
however, we admire the consummate skill with which the shields are chiselled
in the hard Parian marble to a thinness of less than two inches, and balanced
on the extended arms ; and we are surprised at the successful poising of all the
figures, which, with the exception of the bended, clutching warriors, were
entirely free from artificial supports, so common in marble statues. These
features, moreover, all suggest the peculiarities of bronze works. Throughout
there is a sharpness which is foreign to the nature of marble, and reminds us
strongly of the clean, sharp lines of metal casting. In connection with this
bronze-like character of these marbles, it may be remembered, that it was for
statues in bronze that iEgina was famed throughout the ancient world, and
that by them, doubtless, the island sculptor in marble was influenced.
The thoroughly plastic conception of these figures, each being treated as
a single statue, calls to mind also the single and well-developed frame of the
athletes, the sculptor's favorite theme in iEgina. Because thus emphatically
statuesque, these groups, although intended to adorn a temple, appear devoid
of the united and picturesque effect justly required of decorative sculpture.
Adjuncts of color and bronze were freely used in both pediments. The
helmets, shields, and quivers were painted blue or red; the eyes, lips, and
hair also show traces of color; while the nude seems to have been only
slightly stained. The lances and bows in the hands, as well as the extra curls
(see Paris), were doubtless all of bronze. This addition of color and bronze
to the Parian marble must have given these ancient sculptures, as they stood
complete in the pediments, a far different aspect from that they now present,
— their color faded, the bronze accoutrements gone, and the whole restored
by modern hands.
To complete our picture of these admirable temple sculptures, we must
remember that at the summit of each pediment, on each side of the crowning
palmette, and thus forming the acroteria, stood two small female figures.
They were clad, after the manner of very many archaic draped figures, in
long garments, which they held up with one hand (compare p. 194). Marble
griffins, one of which has been restored, crowned the four comers of the pedi-
ments.4"
As to the exact date of the iEgina temple and its sculptures
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DATE OF iEGINA MARBLES. 247
opinions are held Curtius maintains that this temple is the very one erected
by the iEpnetans (520 B.C.) after their triumph over the Samian pirates, and
upon which they hung up their trophies, the prows of the enemy's ships ; and,
in the belief of the early origin of these marbles, he is followed by Lange.423
But while the temple itself may date from before 500 B.C., the age of iEgina's
greatest naval power, the sculptures may have been added later. They do not
form a constituent part of the architecture ; but each statue on its plinth is let
into the base of the pediment separately, and could readily have been placed
in the temple-front long after its construction. Moreover, the style of even the
earliest group is so advanced, that it probably could not have been attained
before 500 B.C., and is more like that to be expected about the close of the
Persian war, 480 B.C. In that war, and especially at the battle of Salamis,
the iCginetans won great laurels, and would naturally express public thanks by
setting up in their temple pediments marble groups. The first group to be
erected would have been the one facing the west, toward the interior of the
island, seen by all approaching ; while the second and more perfect one would,
doubtless, have been completed after some years had elapsed. And yet, with
all their differences, the general resemblance of the two groups is so great,
that they seem the composition of one man, who could not, however, have
superintended the final execution of both. It may be that Onatas, the father,
had the composition of the whole, but being interrupted by death, or some
other cause, left his work to be carried out by others, perhaps by his son Cal-
liteles, whom we know, in one case, assisted his father. 4*4 May not this younger
man, although holding reverently to the composition and general plan of his
father's work, have been fired by the spirit of the new time, and thus have
produced works in style and spirit in advance of his father ?
We have handed down to us in these marbles, whether in honor of victory
over Samian pirates or Persian invaders, an expression of patriotism and
religion ; and it is of interest to note in what spirit the Greeks here sought to
express their national exaltation. Not by portraits of victorious generals, or
scenes from the war, did the iEginetans think most worthily to record their
country's triumph. Gratitude to the propitious deity took a most prominent
place in their artistic conceptions : the figure of the conquering Athena occu-
pied the centre of the temple-brow, and iEginetan heroes of a remote and
sacred past were her attendants. Twice could the -^ginetans, according to
Pindar, boast of having destroyed Troy, — once under Achilles' and Ajax' lead,
and again under that of Telamon their king,' assisted by Heracles. By depict-
ing such heroic scenes, they idealized the glory of their present, and the halo
of national poetry and faith was thrown around their recent victory. In the
quaint aspect of these sculptures, we see that the artists were still too much
absorbed in the difficult study of the human form to make it the mirror of its
inner being, or give the faces an expression of interest or passion. But thev j
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248 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
were moulding the form into a shape meet to receive the life to be breathed
into it by a later art.
There has recently been acquired by the museum at Berlin a statuette in
bronze, found at Dodona, which strikes every one on account of its strong
resemblance to the i£ginetan marbles.435 It represents in exquisite work,
but stern archaic forms, a warrior in full armor, who stands on a curving base,
and evidently formed a part of a group. The unusual shape of the base calls
to mind Onatas' similar shaped pedestal, found at Olympia, and makes still
more striking the resemblance of this rare little figure to the works of i£gi-
netan masters.
In the so-called Strangford Apollo, an archaic figure in the British Museum,
Brunn sees another illustration of the peculiarities of iGginetan works; the
emphasis laid upon the muscular build, and the shape of the shoulders and
abdomen, having led him to this conclusion.426
A much humbler monument than these temple-marbles of i£gina, but
scarcely less interesting in its way, is a marble tombstone discovered in iGgina
in 1866.4*7 It is a very low relief, of which the lower part alone is preserved
The relief is graceful in its quaintness, and contains so clearly the germs of
what should be developed into free, full forms, that it deserves our admiration.
Here we see a lady wrapped in very quaint, stiff garments, seated on a graceful
chair, with her feet raised on a footstool. Like the stiff figiu-es of the Laconian
reliefs, she still holds in her left hand the s}rmbolic pomegranate ; but with the
right she clasps the hand of a friend standing opposite, introducing us to that
motive adopted in later sculptures in Attica, and developed in many scenes
preserved to us of rare tenderness and touching import. In this quaint form
we see the old sculptor's hesitation in departing from the traditional models,
coupled with a charming endeavor to introduce truly human sentiment ; and we
see how painstaking, although unsuccessful, he is in representing the drapery
that falls about the forms of these two friends forever united on one tomb-
stone. All the principles of style are here observed which are the groundwork
of excellence in low relief ; and we feel that with a little more experimenting,
a little more boldness, greater heights will be attained. But whether this
marble sculpture is the work of Doric masters, and not of lonians, or men from
the neighboring Athens, we cannot say. It certainly seems more Ionian than
iEginetan, and the treatment of the drapery is pleasanter than that of the
Athena of the temple.
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CHAPTER XV.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE FROM ABOUT 500-450 B.C. {coHHnued).^Vl,U>'
PONNESOS, NORTH GREECE, SOUTHERN ITALY, AND SICILY.
Argive Masters. — Ageladas' Works. — Other Argive Masters and their Works. — Argos and Sikyon.—
The Brothers Canachos and Aristocles. — Canachos* Apollo. — Corinthian Art. — Tegean Bronze
Statuette. — The Vatican Girl-runner. — Olympian Sculptures. — Temple of Zeus. — Its Metopes. —
Sculptures of East Pediment. — Their Style.— Sculptures of West Pediment — Their Style. —
Their Time. — The Sculptors of these Marbles. — Theories of Brunn. — Variety of Influences at
Olympia. — The Place of these Sculptures in Art. — Sculptors in North Greece. — Monuments*
from Boeotia. — Remoter Provinces. — Art Illustrated from Coins. — Relief from Abdera. — Relief
from Pharsalos. — Tombstones from Thessalonica. — View of Brunn. — Sculptures in Sicily and
Southern Italy. — Pythagoras of Rhegion. — Improvements made by this Master. — Paucity o£
Remains from Southern Italy. — Bronze of Paestum. — Verona Bronze. — Monuments from Selinus*
Passing from iEgina to other Doric states in the Peloponnesos, we first
pause at Argos, where, as already seen, during the sixth century the foreigners,
Dipoinos and Skyllis, had worked, and a native school flourished. During the
latter half of that century lived the still greater master, Ageladas, whose
activity, it is generally agreed, lasted well-nigh sixty years, from about 520
to 464 B.C. (01)nnp. 6s-79).428 Nine works, all in bronze, are mentioned as
coming from his workshop. Of his two statues of Zeus, we are told that one
represented the child-god, and that the other, made for the Messenians, was.
later taken to Ithome. It is probable that this latter figure appears faintly
represented on the coins of that place, one coin having been found with a
part of the god's distinctive title. These two statues were kept in their own
houses by priests elected for the purpose.429
Twice Heracles was his subject, one of these figures being likewise beard-
less and youthful : the other, with the epithet Alexicacos (warder-ofif of evil),
was reconsecrated during the pestilence in Athens, in the time of the Pelopon-
nesian war, and was believed to have ipiraculously stayed the scourge. 430 Of
a muse by Ageladas, with a stringed instrument, we only know that it belonged
to a trio; the two remaining statues being from the hand of his contempo-
raries and neighbors, Canachos and Aristocles, in Sikyon. 43» More character-
istic for his school than these figures of gods and heroes wete, probably, his
two statues of Olympic victors, and the chariot of Cleosthenes, seen by Pausa-
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250 ARCHAIC SCULPIURE.
nias in the sacred altis. One victor represented Anochos, a Tarentine, and the
other Timasitheos.43a
We learn that the names of each of the four horses of Cleosthenes' chariot
were inscribed, and that the rich owner of the chariot was the first to be hon-
ored with a statue along with the charioteer. For the people of Tarentum,
for whom Onatas also worked, Ageladas executed a group, seen in Delphi, cele-
brating a victory won over the Messapians, there appearing in this monument
riders and captive women. 433
This recital of Ageladas* works would mean little for us did we not know,
that among the younger generation who sought his instruction were three men
destined to become the great lights of Greek sculpture, — Polycleitos of Argos,
Myron from Boeotia, and the Athenian Pheidias. What were the qualities
which attracted them to the old Argive master } The correctness of Argive
art and its skilful technique are well attested ; and may we not conjecture that
these excellences marked the school of Ageladas, although he himself could
not have been a revolutionary genius?
A stately base of Parian marble was recently found at 01}rmpia, the inscrip-
tion of which tells us that the sculptures which it bore were dedicated by one
Praxiteles, after a successful career in the cities of Sicily, and that they were
-executed by several sculptors, one of whom is called son of Agelaidas, no doubt
the Ageladas of literature.434 Had these statues been preserved, we might
have obtained from them some idea of the style of the great head of the
Argive school, whose scholars were such men.
Another Argive master of this time is mentioned, who bore the name of
Aristomedon. He must have lived before Xerxes invaded Greece, having exe-
cuted figures in honor of victory in the Phokian war.43S This votive gift was
:set up in Delphi after the triumph over the Thessalians of the Phokians, under
the leadership of the seer Tellias. It comprised the commander-in-chief Tel-
lias, the other military leaders, and several Phokian heroes ; but we know noth-
ing of its style or arrangement. Two other Argive masters, Glaucos and
Dionysios, probably somewhat younger than their more celebrated countryman,
Ageladas, executed a very extensive monument of numerous figures in bronze,
a votive offering to the Olympic gods for Smikythos, who was long guardian to
the children of Anaxilas, Tyrant of Rhegion (died 476 B.C.). Smikythos made
this extensive gift in fulfilment of a vow for the recovery of his consumptive
5on.436 Parts of its pedestal and fragmentary dedicatory ii^scription have been
<iiscovered at Olympia, but furnish no light as to the sculptures. The site of
this discovery, however, below the level of the great temple to Zeus, aids in
fixing the date of that building, which must have been after the erection of
Smikythos' gift.437 The group was composed of a number of gods and god-
*desses, large and small, but was so injured by the removal of some of the fig-
ures to Rome by Nero, that Pausanias' description is incomplete. For Phor-
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CANACHOS' APOLLO. 251
mis of Arcadia, who distinguished himself in the service of Gelon and Hieron
of Syracuse, and gathered such great riches that he also could erect statues of
thanks at Olympia, Dionysios executed a horse and groom, which accompanied
others by Simon of iEgina ; but, according to Pausanias, Dionysios' horse was
smaller and less imposing than the others, although the most lifelike. 438 From
this scanty literary material we learn that the sculptors of Argos worked exclu-
sively in bronze, executing mainly athletes, horses, and charioteers, and that their
works were sought for, even by the people of far-off lands. But no such noble
monument as the iEginetan marbles has been found in their land ; and, with a
sense of very fragmentary knowledge, we turn northward to Sikyon, the twin-
sister of Argos, and not far removed from Corinth.
Here also, as we have seen, the foreign masters, Dipoinos and Skyllis,
liad worked ; but the first names of native masters that meet us are of two
brothers, Canachos and Aristocles. They were contemporaries of Gallon of
^gina, and of Ageladas of Argos, as appears from their works, and from the
fact that these men are mentioned together by the ancients. Their activity
thus falls in the latter part of the sixth and earlier decades of the fifth cen-
tury. 439 Canachos, the more celebrated of the brothers, seems to have worked
in gold, ivory, and wood, as well as bronze, and possibly in marble. Pliny tells
us that the material which he used was the iEginetan bronze.440 His works,
so far as known, consisted of boys on race-horses {celetizontes pueri)^ a muse
^ouped with two others by Ageladas and his brother Aristocles, two statues
of Apollo, and an Aphrodite.44« The latter, seen by Pausanias in Corinth, was
of gold and ivory, and seated in the old style. The goddess was crowned
with ^^ polos y and bore in her hands her attributes, — poppy-blossoms and the
apple. In Thebes was a wooden figure by this master, representing the Is-
menian Apollo, in size and pose exactly like a colossal Apollo by him in far-o£E
Ionia. This latter statue in bronze, and by far the most celebrated work by
Canachos, was carried off from the very ancient shrine of the Branchidae, near
Miletos, by the Persians under Darius, but was returned by Seleucos Nicator
at a much later date. Like most works in bronze, so tempting to the avarice
of later generations, this colossus has disappeared ; and only late coins from
Miletos, bearing an image of the great temple-deity, furnish us with an idea of
the pose of Canachos* Apollo. 442 According to these, the god stood erect, with
arms advanced from the elbow, and holding in either hand a symbol, — a deer
and a bow ; thus following the t)rpe we have seen illustrated in the Naxos and
Delos colossi, the small Naxos statue of the Berlin Museum (Fig. 90), and the
ancient temple-image at Delos by Tectaios and Angelion. A small bronze in
the British Museum represents the god with the deer in one hand, the attri-
bute given him by Canachos; but the work is clearly that of a late imita-
tor. 443 The Roman works in marble, supposed imitations of Canachos, such
as one in the Vatican, and another in Paris, are so dissimilar, and so full of the
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252
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
copyist's arbitrariness, that they can furnish no idea of the master's style.
From the testimony of Cicero, however, who calls his works severer than those
of Calamis, we must believe he was a sculptor of the stern old type. 444
Of his brother Aristocles we know little, except that he executed a muse>
and was the head of a school purporting to have lasted through seven genera-
tions, the last member living about 280 B.C., — a statement, however, which,
cannot fail to awaken questioning ; since, as we know from monuments, art-
forms and technique changed greatly with the centuries. 44S
In Corinth, the seat of a very ancient and flourishing trade in vases, three
sculptors appeared shortly before the opening of the Persian wars. These men,^
Diyllos, Amyclaios, and Chionis, executed for the Phokians,
in honor of their victory over the Thessalians, a group in
which Heracles and Apollo appeared, each laying hold of
the tripod, and preparing to fight for it ; while Athena and
Artemis tried to dissuade them from the contest.446 This
subject is represented on archaistic reliefs, but whether it
can be traced back to this Corinthian group is exceedingly
doubtful.447
A marble relief once owned by Lord Guilford, and dis-
covered near Corinth, but which has now disappeared, had,
if we may judge from the drawings, so many archaistic
or pseudo archaic features that we need not here dwell
upon it. Troizen and Phlius, in the Peloponnesos, fur-
nish only a single name each : these are Hermon and
Laphaes.448
Few are the monuments discovered in the Peloponnesos which might bring
before us the character of the art of its different provinces during this time. A
small bronze figure (Fig. 120), discovered at Tegea in 1861, may, perhaps, give us
an idea of the mathematical mode of representing form and drapery in the earlier
half of the fifth century. 449 This statuette, owned by the archaeological society
of Athens, shows an ancient lady standing erect, and clad in a chiton almost
painfully plain. At her waist it is caught up, and it is buttoned on her shoulder ;
while a flap, or diplols^ falls down in front, covering the girdle, and ending evenly
on each side. Shoes cover her feet : her hair is gathered by a band, and then
falls down her back in a loose mass. In the advanced hand she held an object,
perhaps a shallow saucer {patera) ; and with the other she doubtless clasped a
temple-key. This would mark her as a priestess (cleiducIios)y as may be in-
ferred from the resemblance of the statuette to another of freer style found on
the same spot, and still holding the temple-key in the hand. This Tegea statu-
ette, found on what seems to be the site of an ancient temple, was probably
an independent votive figure brought by some pious priestess, and calls to mind
the fact, that even such great masters as Pheidias and Euphranor are said to
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Fig, 120. Pri99t9S8 with
K9y, found at 7«0«a.
Ath9n9,
MONUMENTS PROBABLY DORIC. 253
have treated the same subject {cleiduchoi). The importance of this little, well-
executed bronze lies in the confirmation it brings to Brunn's theory, that the
striving to reduce every thing to rule characterized the sculptors of the Pelo-
ponnesos. In the original, this face with its strong chin has that remarkable
long oval, of which the front leaves the impression of a plane at a decided angle
to the sides. The hair is treated in masses ; and this tendency to subordinate
individual parts runs through the whole figure, in which simplicity and severity
in the lines of body and drapery, combined with a clearness of rendering, and
-economy of detail, go to make up what seems to indicate an architectonic prin-
ciple. This little figure also throws light on quite a number of statues whose
type it has hitherto been impossible to trace to its Greek home with certainty.
Such is the so-called Hestia Giustiniani, now in the Torlonia Museum in Rome ;
and such the three bronze dancers from Herculaneum, which seem to be a late
variation on a genuine old type. 450 How severely simple the representation of
the drapery in this little bronze from Tegea, and how different from the elabo-
rate robes of the figures found in Ionia! It is, doubtless, the simple Doric
garment, afterwards adopted as well by the lonians of Attica, but in the art of
that beauty-loving, graceful people, made to reflect nobly the form beneath,
and frequently combined with a rich veil to give luxury and ease of line such as
we miss in this sterner little monument found in the Peloponnesos. There is
in the Vatican a female figure with restored arms, which has so many of the
traits observed here, that, although we cannot positively affirm that it goes back
to a Peloponnesian original of this age, it may be mentioned with them. It is a
figure of one of those girl-racers who, among the Doric peoples, were wont to
join in athletic games, and at Olympia to run in honor of Hera in the stadion,
Pausanias tells us that the sixteen maidens who joined in the race had their
hair flowing, the right shoulder uncovered, and a short chiton reaching a little
below the knees.45« In the graceful statue of the Vatican we see the maiden
represented in such a costume. Her long and narrow face, with strongly built
chin, and her whole frame lacking all rich fulness, is beautifully severe and
correct in its build, and seems to point to an original of this age when art was
just ready to bud into richer beauty. From the sharp cut of the eyelids, and
distinctness of all the lines, as well as the firm composition of the figure,
intended evidently to stand without a support, we may conclude that the
original of this figure was of bronze, here translated into marble by some later
artist, who, in general, adhered to his quaintly beautiful pattern, but found it
necessary to add the support required by the marble copy.
OLYMPIA.
Among the most important marbles for the history of early Greek sculpture
are those brought to light at 01)rmpia, in the retired valley of the Alpheios in
Elis, according to the ancient traveller "so pleasant to look upon." On the
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
254 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
banks of the sacred Alpheios and smaller Cladeos, in 1829, partial excavations
were made by the French, to be most thoroughly completed by the Germans
between 1875 and 1881, roused to this effort by the eloquence of the emment
historian Ernst Curtius, who has continued to be the soul of the operations.
Here in antiquity no bustling cities were to be seen, but all around the eye
met rich fields and gardens ; while in their midst rose the walls of the sacred
precincts, or altisy enclosing an- area measured off, it was said, by Heracles, in
remote mythic ages, and filled by later generations with monuments expressive
of devotion to the gods and heroes there worshipped. Here Zeus, the highest
god of all Hellas, was pre-eminent ; and in the centre of the altis stood his
colossal altar. On it offerings were daily burned with white poplar, the ashes
being left to accumulate century after century ; and, as Pausanias credulously
adds, birds of prey were miraculously kept from infesting the spot. An oblong
base 6.50 meters long, covered with a thick layer of ashes intermingled with
many votive statuettes of bronze and clay, discovered to the north of the great
temple, testifies at once to the truth of this description, and the devotion of
the Greeks from very ancient times.
When Greece by heroic efforts had arrested and turned back the Persian
hosts, an elevating feeling of glorious triumph and thankfulness seems to have
pervaded the land ; and, in the years immediately following the battle of Plataiai,
many votive offerings of great size and costliness were put up by Greeks, from
near and far, in this great national shrine, to Zeus. The Tyrants, and the rich
dwellers in Sicily and Southern Italy, now made regal gifts at this shrine.
Phormis, the Arcadian, collected such riches in services in the wars of Hieron,
that he was able to put up costly gifts, not only at Delphi, but also at Olym-
pia.45a Besides the horses and grooms alluded to above (p. 251), there were
other groups, dedicated by a friend of Phormis, in which that soldier appeared
fighting with an enemy. It is very probable, as Furtwangler surmises, that
fragments of one of these groups are among the marbles discovered at Olym-
pia. They consist of two admirably executed heads in Parian marble, parts of
arms, one foot, and a piece of a shield. 453 The fragments of arms and feet
remind us strongly, in style and technique, of some statues of the east pedi-
ment from iEgina: instance the fallen warrior (Fig. 119). From tradition we
know that i£ginetan masters worked for Phormis ; and it is possible, that in
these fine fragments found at Olympia their «kill may be traced. The frag-
ment of the shield, which was doubtless carried by the old warrior, has upon
it, in very low relief, the figure of a lad on a shaggy skin, and presents pleas-
ingly flowing lines, although still constrained. In one of the preserved heads
(Fig. 121) the artist has evidently struggled to represent the portrait of an old
warrior. Although this helmeted head, and the second, very like it, are sadly
injured, enough remains to see portraiture here combined with a most naive
rendering of hair and beard The curls of marble were each put on separately,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
AGE OF ZEUS TEMPLE AT OLYMPIA.
255
like the bronze curls found on the iEginetan statues : around the eyelids seem
to have been metal eyelashes ; and in their sockets were eyeballs, perhaps of
precious stone. B t all these details, so strange for marble, we forget in gazing
at the face, from which kindliness beams, as from the small head from Meligii (p.
208), but here far better expressed. These precious fragments show us that
the artists of the time had gained a certain assurance and vigor of expression
in portraiture which is truly delightful in contrast to the tentative ideal works
of older times, such as the colossal Hera head described above on p. 210.
While foreigners were enriching
Olympia with single works, the people
of Elis itself did not remain behind,
but now erected, as it seems, on the
site of an older, humbler shrine, a glo-
rious temple to Zeus, more in keeping
with the exalted spirit of the day. The
means for its erection were furnished
by the booty taken in a successful war,
fought in Olymp. ^^y against the rebel-
lious people of Pisatis in Elis. 454 The
temple was begun, according to infer-
ences drawn from the recent excava-
tions, soon after this (472-468 B.C.;
see p. 2So).455 After the battle at
Tanagra, which took place about fif-
teen years later, 457 B.C. (Olymp.
80. 4), the Lakedaimonians, according
to Pausanias, affixed to the temple
summit a record of their victory on
a shield ; this shows that the structure
had by that time received its roof.456 A large part of this very inscribed
shield is one of the latest discoveries, and is an incontrovertible witness to
the early completion of the temple, being in form such that it must have been
affixed to the roof when finished.457 It is probable, that for the eightieth return
of the 01)rmpic festival, the summer of 460 B.C., the sacred structure stood
complete, — a grateful sight for the pilgrims wandering thither from all parts
of Greece. As recent researches made by Loeschke have shown, its great tem-
ple-statue by Pheidias was probably begun, not very long after, and consecrated
in the summer of the eighty-third Olympic festival.4s8
This temple was a building of the sterner Doric style, built by a native
architect, Libon by name. Its foundations, ^^//<ij-walls, and columns were of
shell conglomerate, a coarse native stone, which received a coating of fine,
painted stucco on the exposed parts. But the building received also sculp-
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Ftq, 127. Portrait H9cut dl»eoo9r9d at OiymptOt p9rMap»
of Pkormta tho AroadtaK. Oiympla,
256 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
tural decoration, in which the myths of the sacred spot were immortalized.
The stone of the country being too coarse for such higher artistic work,
Parian and Pentelic marble were brought from afar for this purpose. Along
the sima^ or gutter-facings, the water from the sloping roof was spewed out
from numerous lions' heads in marble, whose remnants show most varied artis'
tic excellence.459 Some of them appear to be original works, executed when
t*he temple was erected ; others, reparations made at a later time, have a freer
style ; and still others are evidently of a very late date, being absolutely bar-
barous.
But of far more importance than these so purely architectural decorations,
are the sculptures of the metopes and pediments, fully described by Pausanias,
although, as excavations prove, somewhat incorrectly. The sculptured metopes
did not, as in the Athenian temples, occupy the frieze over the outer row of
columns surrounding the building, but stood over the inner row of columns
(compare Fig. 113), and enlivened the entablature of Xhepronaos (front portico)
and opisthodomos (rear portico), there having been six at each end. On them
were glorified the labors of Heracles, — one of the greatest Olympic heroes, the
mythic founder of the games, and layer-out of the altis. Happily their pres-
ervation, owing to their protected position, as well as the skill in combina-
tion of the director of the excavations, Treu, have rescued to us at least their
general scheme, and given us their place in the building. 460 The majority of
the fragments are still in Olympia, and the remainder are in the Louvre ; but
at Berlin may be seen casts of the whole, combined according to their original
groupings.
On the opisthodomos i or west end, the first, or northern metope was con-
nected with Heracles' first great act of heroism, the slaying the Nemean lion.
When Argos was ravaged by this beast, the young hero, according to story,
long followed the king of beasts with arrows and club, but to no purpose, until
finally he defied the monster in his den, and strangled him in his powerful
arms. The metope does not show us the hero in the midst of this struggle.
The lion lies dead ; and the hero, with one foot planted on the prostrate foe,
rests his elbow on his knee, and his face pensively on his hand, as if brooding
over his first great labor, and forecasting what he had promised still to carry
out. A fragment of the figure of Athena has been found, assuring us that
divine help was at hand. Her figure must have well filled up the space left
vacant beyond the hero and fallen victim. We should not fail to notice the
color on these metopes, which must have blended with that of the architecture,
where columns and walls were found to have a reddish hue. Triglyphs were
painted blue, and all the unadorned horizontal bands seem to have been red
On the metopes the color varies. In the one just described, the hero's hair,
lips, and even eyeballs, were found to be red ; but too little color is left to tell
what manner of harmony was attained by this polychromy, which evidently
Digitized by V^OOQLC
METOPES OF ZEUS TEMPLE AT OLYMPIA.
257
reflects the traditional use of incrustation with terra-cotta, metal, or stucco,
painted and gilded. The second metope represents the hero, and the hydra
fabled to have haunted the swamps of Lemai ; but how Heracles here destroys
that monster whose nine heads were said, when cut off, ever to grow afresh, we
cannot distinguish in the fragmentary marbles. In their present condition,
however, we still see numerous long, snaky coils growing up out of a crocodile-
tail, and spreading over much of the surface, thus making the relief a most
repulsive one. Here the background was found covered with red color. In
the third metope appears commemorated Heracles* triumph over the terrible
birds of Stymphalos (Fig. 122). These fabulous Arcadian monsters, said to
have had claws, beaks, and wings of cruel metal, from which they shot off
feathers as arrows, were satisfied alone with human victims to appease their
hunger. Athena gave Heracles a rattle
to frighten them from their nest, and
unerring arrows for their destruction.
The old sculptor in the third metope
shows us Heracles offering his prey to
Athena. The form of the goddess dis-
covered by the French was long thought
to represent a nymph. Her attributes
of helmet, and csgis on her breast, how-
ever, clearly mark this as the warrior-
goddess, who, seated on a rock, looks
at some object now gone, doubtless the
long-desired bird which the hero must
quietly have held in his hand. In the
fourth metope Heracles is in the midst
of his struggle with a wild bull sent by
Poseidon to waste the land of the Cretans in retribution for a great sin. It fell
to the lot •of the hero to catch and bind the beast alive. In the sculptured
scene, Heracles by main force seems to be holding back the enraged brute.
The background of this metope was found painted blue, unlike some of the
others, which were red, thus showing a lack of uniformity in the application
of color. The brute himself was found to have a brownish-red skin. The
fifth metope concerned the overtaking and controlling of the stag with brazen
hoofs, fabled to have done great damage in the Achaian mountain Keryneia.
For a whole year Heracles gave chase to this stag, following it away to the
fountain-heads of the Danube, where he found the wild olive, and transplanted
it to Olympia. Very little of this metope is left, but enough to show that the
hero had overtaken the stag, and, while kneeling on its back with one knee,
was probably struggling with the horns, as very frequently represented in much
later sculptures. Heracles' adventure with the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, is
Digitized by CjOOQ IC
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^-=^= " i^rt'^^'ii
jv-"i^ ^9
■II* '^ 1
^ ^" Ini
^^^^PT*" . '^^ Vifc 1 1
^tA sJ\ M
1 Ip^^ jSH^^^H
1 ^ ^jlf^""'^ 'M^ ^^H^^^lv Ji^^^^
llf^ f fegrfi^
Ftg, 122. Kletop9 from tti9 7«mp/« ofZwa at Otympla,
H^raolBB bringing a Stymphallan Bird to Athwa,
258 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
probably the subject of the last metope of the west side ; but, unfortunately^
only the head of the queen has been found, with a part of the hero's hand.
When Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus, wished for the girdle given this
Amazon queen by Ares, Heracles was obliged to go to obtain it. According
to story, after Hippolyte had consented to give it up, Hera, who wished ill ta
the hero, turned herself into an Amazon, and excited Hippolyte to such an
extent, that Heracles, hearing the clamor, suspected treachery. Seizing the
queen by the hair, he then killed her, and, taking her girdle, fled.
At the opposite end of the temple we follow the hero still farther. In the
first scene, the seventh metope, he is engaged with the Erymanthian boar,
which his step-brother. King Eurystheus, required him to catch alive. Enough
remains to show that the hero had secured his prey, and was returning with it.
The scene is treated with great humor. In one comer appears Eurystheus,
who has been driven by cowardice to take refuge in one of those large earthea
pots sunk in the ground, and used in antiquity as receptacles for grain or water.
But the full force of the scene in this fragmentary metope is best obtained
from a picture found at Pompeii, preserved well-nigh complete, in which the
frightened king, with royal band about his hair, stretches his head out from
his place of refuge and beckons to Heracles to depart with the dreadful beast.
The eighth metope, also sadly injured, shows us Heracles with one of the
horses of Diomedes, king of Thrace, which were wont, as the story was, to
feed upon the flesh of innocent travellers. In the ninth metope Heracles has
to do with the triple-bodied giant Geryones, the owner of vast herds, of cattle
on the island Gades, after which Eurystheus lusted. In this metope the hero
brings down his tremendous blows upon two of the bodies of the monster
sunken upon their knees, the third being probably already despatched. Hap-
pily, the tenth metope 461 is admirably preserved ; showing us the capabilities
of the sculptors of these marbles, and illustrating their fiatve recital of the
myths (Fig. 123). It represents that scene from the life of Heracles where
he came to the garden of the Hesperides to seek the golden apples from
the magical tree in its centre for his cruel task-master, King Eurystheus.
On his arrival he found King Atlas, who alone could procure the apples,
groaning under the load of the world. Heracles besought him to pluck the
fruit of which he was in search. At first Atlas refused, on the ground that he
could not let fall his burden. Heracles thereupon relieved him while he went
in search of the golden fruit. Here Greek mythology weaves in a pleasantry.
Atlas proposed to carry the apples in person to Mykene, while Heracles con-
tinued to bear the world. To this proposition the hero gave his consent,
adding only that he must provide himself with a cushioil for his shoulders.
The slow-witted Atlas then took the load again, but found too late that
Heracles had now concluded to let him remain the unhappy bearer of the
world. The metope from Olympia representing this scene, and on the same
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ATLAS METOPE, OLYMPIA.
259
scale as the remaining metopes, though larger in the engraving, shows us that
fictitious simultaneousness which occurs continually in ancient paintings and
sculpture, crowding successive events all into one picture. Thus King Atlas,
with royal band in hair, has just returned with both hands full of apples; but
Fig. 123. M9top9 from Tempi9 of Zout at Olympltu Heracloa, Atiaa, and Hoaporld.
Heracles already has the cushion on his shoulder, the world borne by it being
left to the imagination. The apples of the second hand are not represented
in the cut, since the engraving was made before they were found. Another
of the details of the mythic story crowded into this relief is a kind-hearted
nymph, one of the guardians of the tree, who stands by, and extends her hand
to give the hero friendly aid. The vigorous forms of Heracles and Atl^z-^^ip
26o ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
here admirably brought out, and there is great faithfulness in executing the
minor details. The decidedly archaic character of the relief, especially seen in
the heads, will strike every observer. The details of hair and beard are not
carved out, but left to color ; and the curves of the eyelids are still monoto-
nous. But, by running the fingers over these strong but subtile muscles of the
body, we become pleasantly aware by touch, as cannot be done by sight alone,
that there is here no laxity or uncertainty, but everywhere perspicuity, firm-
ness, and assurance in the severe but thoroughly plastic shapes, even though
still exaggerated in parts with the natve emphasis given by archaic art to the
most prominent members. But how primitive the drapery of this Hesperid,
and how far behind the rendering of the nude ! The simplicity of cut is
quite unlike the pattern of garments found in statues among the lonians, as
those of Miletos, Samos, Delos, and even Athens. In the perpendicular folds
which fall over her thigh, in the horizontal lines of the edge running across
the body, and in the serpentine border dropping towards the hip, there is,
however, a peculiar attraction, far indeed from that of entire naturalness, and
dependent rather uppn stern conformity to carefully weighed artistic princi-
ples, it might be said upon " the beauty alone of certain linear combinations."462
There is throughout the forms of this metope a nobility holding itself aloof
from all that is trivial or undignified, showing the work of a master well trained
in artistic traditions, whose sculptures do not appeal to feeling or sentiment,
but most emphatically to our judgment, and sense of sculptural form.
The eleventh metope has a female figure^ in her severe but agreeable lines,
sister, as it were, to this nymph. It is Athena who here stands by with her
aid while Heracles cleans the stables of Augeias (Fig. 124). According to
myth, these were so extensive and so foul that Heracles turned a river into
them ; but here he appears actiially at work hoeing out the dirt, in an attitude
which shows great exertion. Athena, while standing with full front to the
beholder, looks toward Heracles ; her left hand, perhaps, once holding a lance,
and her right resting on a shield. Her helmet had attachments of bronze,
now gone ; and Heracles* hair and beard were clearly painted. The twelfth
and last metope seems to represent the chaining of Kerberos, the watch-dog
at the portals of Hades. Here the triple-headed monster of myth appears as
a very agreeably shaped dog, whom the hero is dragging out of his cave.
Above the dog, and completing the scene, must have been another figure ;
for the space in all these metopes was well filled : probably it was Athena,
the hero's protecting goddess ; or Hermes, the leader of souls to and from
Hades, the scene of Heracles* adventure with Kerberos.
To arrive at the date of these vigorous but still constrained sculptures,
their place in the architecture must be considered. This shows us that the
metopes must have been executed during the building of the temple. Their
intimate connection with the triglyphs, both on the side and the top, shows
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
MYTH OF PELOPS AND OINOMAOS.
261
that they could not have been shoved in after the building was completed, but
must have been fitted in as rude blocks into their places, and carved afterwards,
during the process of building; i.e., between 470 and 460 B.C. It is equally
clear, that these sculptural metopes could not have been carved in place after
th6 building had been roofed. In their dark and confined space directly under
the roof, they would thus have been inaccessible to the artist for the produc-
tion of such carefully finished work. Hence, as the building was covered by
about 460 B.C., we have a clew to the earlier date of its metopes.
But let us now turn to the sculptures of the pediments, and consider first
those from the east end, usually the front of the sacred building. Here, accord-
ing to Pausanias, were represented the preparations for the mythic chariot-race
between Oinomaos, king of Pisa, and the Lydian Pelops.463 According to
story, Oinomaos had a daughter of great
beauty, Hippodameia, whose hand was
sought by many. But being unwilling
to give her up, having been informed by
the oracle, according to one story, that
he himself should fall at the hand of his
son-in-law, the king determined to pre-
vent her marriage. He consequently in-
stituted a chariot-race, making it a con-
dition that each suitor should run with
him, and, if unsuccessful, forfeit his life.
Thirteen times Oinomaos* winged steeds
carried off the prize; and thirteen un-
happy lovers, one after the other, were
pierced by his merciless lance as he
sped by them, their skulls to become
decorations in the temple of his father. Ares,
the gods, according to Pindar, favored his suit
Fig. 124, Metop* from Temple of Zeua at OlymptfL
Heraciea cleaning Augelae' Stablea.
When, however, Pelops came,
Poseidon furnished him with
winged steeds, fleeter than those of Oinomaos ; and Aphrodite roused the
maiden's ardent love for the beautiful Lydian youth. In popular myth, Myr-
tilos, son of Hermes, was also woven into the story. He likewise loved the
maiden, but feared the fate of the unhappy suitors. In order to be near her, he
hired himself out as charioteer to Oinomaos ; his jealousy of the princely lovers
having not a little to do with their failure in the race. But, when Pelops ar-
rived, Myrtilos changed his tactics, in hopes of nearer approach to Hippo-
dameia, and now plotted, even against his master. He removed the pivot from
one of the king's chariot-wheels, or, according to another story, inserted one
of wax. In consequence the race was lost to the old king, now the victim of
Pelops* lance, who thus won the bride and the land. Pausanias describes the
sculptural group at Olympia, relating to this myth in the east pediment of the
Digitized by CjOOQ IC
262 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
temple, as follows : " In the middle of the pediment is the figure of Zeus : on
his right stands Oinomaos, with a helmet on his head, and beside him his wife,
Sterope, one of the daughters of Atlas. Myrtilos, who guided the chariot of
Oinomaos, sits before the horses, of which there are four. After him are two
men, who have no names, charged by Oinomaos with the care of the horses.
At the end lies a figure stretched out, which represents the Cladeos, that river,
next to the Alpheios, most honored by the people of Elis. On the left of Zeus
are Pelops and Hippodameia, besides Pelops' charioteer, his horses, and two
men, doubtless his grooms. Where the pediment becomes narrow is a statue
representing the Alpheios. "463a
Happily, parts of all these statues have been found, and in such condition
that it has been possible for the sculptor Griittner of Berlin to complete the
failing members, making a most pleasing restoration in small casts (Fig. 126)^^
Five standing expectant figures occupy the centre. In the very middle towers
Zeus, who doubtless held in one hand his sceptre, but with the other, strangely
enough, fingers his mantle, — a very favorite mode of representing the hands
with the sculptors of these marbles. Of the Zeus, the head, right leg, and part
of left arm and drapery, are lacking ; but his tremendous chest, and the dra-
pery about his limbs, are well preserved. Thus we see the king of gods is here
conceived as appearing in person at this momentous scene ; but, judging from
the attitude of those on both sides of him, they are conceived as unaware of
his presence. Two helmeted warriors, whose heads, torsos, and parts of arms,
are preserved, stood on each side of Zeus. The bearded, and consequently the
older, man, doubtless the father, Oinomaos, stood at Zeus* left, and not, as
Pausanias says, at his right. His pose seems to be one of proud self-confi-
dence, with one hand placed with assurance on his hips ; while his wife and
companion, Sterope, happily quite well preserved, seems absorbed in thought
concerning the dreaded race, which shall decide the fate of her husband and
daughter. One arm is laid across her breast, and with the other hand she
fingers the drapery about her neck.
Corresponding to this couple is one on the opposite side of Zeus, where the
old sculptor, with his love of summing up the whole story in a single scene, has
already placed the much-sought-for bride, Hippodameia, by the side of her
suitor, Pelops. Her gesture of holding her veil beyond her head is probably
one implying the approaching nuptials, and becomes a very favorite one in later
art. Her whole form, clad in a plain cAiton like that of the Tegea priestess, is,
however, apparently no younger than that of her mother ; nor is there great
difference in their faces. This central row of figures, all of which are unfin-
ished at the back, stand well-nigh in full front view. Their varied pose of
hands, turn of head, and bend of knee, make a far more agreeable impression,
as the group is now restored in diminutive size, than it seemed possible to
expect of the five monotonously regular figures as they appeared in the frag-
Digitized by V^OOQlC
EAST-PEDIMENT SCULPTURES, OLYMPIA.
263
nients. It will doubtless appear, when they are restored in the full size of
the originals, that the same severe harmony, varied by slightest changes, will
be preserved. The simple, unostentatious way in which this story is told,
^hows us that the sculptors did not here seek complicated and intricate combi-
nations : and yet, in this stately central row, the old archaic forms are strug-
gling up to greater freedom ; and there is clearly an advance upon the prim,
stiffly isolated Athena of the ^Egina pediments, who looks out alone upon us
from the throng of struggling warriors.
Much discussion has arisen concerning the placing of the figures immedi-
ately following on each side of this central group, affecting also the figures in
the comers. Curtius, whose
arrangement is followed in
the plate, is guided by the
fact, that directly below the
•comer of the pediment, to
the left of Zeus, were found
together the three figures in
the position in which, as he
believes, they must have fall-
en. Treu considers this fact
of the discovery outweighed
by certain technical signs in
some of the statues, and
places them otherwise, with
a more strict correspondence
»of one part to the other in
the pose of the individual
figures.465
On the same side of Zeus, ^'^- '^^
with Oinomaos, in front of
the horses, sits the charioteer, Myrtilos, and, on the other side, the charioteer
of Pelops. These forms fill up the vacant space below the horses' heads ; but
their place and pose are very strange, and it is difficult to imagine how they
thus held the steeds in the strained pose which the old sculptor has found
necessary to give them. Four horses appear on each side ; but, in the laconic
style of ancient art, the chariots are omitted. The pose of these expectant
animals is very quiet, and almost exactly alike: their long, stiff tails in the
marble may awaken a smile. But their forms are marked by a pleasing vigor,
in which is much realism.
Behind the horses, on each side, sits an elderly man. The one on Oino-
maos' side has a furrowed brow, and pensive, foreboding look, and rests his face
on his hand ; a part of the figure being represented in Fig. 125. He
Digitized by
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264 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
thing so portrait-like, that he may suggest the Garibaldi t)rpe. The other,
on Pelops* side, raises himself as if in pleasant excitement, but is, unfortu-
nately, sadly injured. Are these two bearded figures, so different in expression,
only hostlers, as Pausanias says ? or are they the seers, who, according to poetry
and legend, looked into the future, and saw its course, but were unable ta
change it? On old vases where going to battle is pictured, and especially
in the portentous preparation for Amphiaraos' departure, such a seer sits on
the ground, with head in his hand, in attitude of sorrow. 4^6 ^o here the brood-
ing old man on Oinomaos' side doubtless is meant to foresee with anxiety the
doom of his master, but the one on Pelops' side the victory of his party.
On the lips of the brooding old seer the magnifying-glass detected traces of red
color ; and there can be no doubt, that, throughout these pedimental figures, very
many details, as we have seen was the case with the metopes, were carried out
in color, the fading of which, as in the case of Heracles, has left a look of
baldness.
Behind the pensive seer we see a crouching lad, apparently in conversation
with the stretched-out form of the river-god Cladeos in the corner of the pedi-
ment. This god is represented as bearded but youthful, because the river which
he personified was the smaller of the two at Olympia. Who this boy with hand
resting on his foot may be, we know not. Perhaps he is a yoimg groom, but
more probably a local river-god imagined as conversing with Cladeos concern-
ing the coming scene, and thus locating it more definitely. In both these
figures old conventionalism seems to have yielded to a direct study of nature,
perhaps of the model, evident in Cladeos' muscular chest, broad shoulders, and
somewhat ordinary pose. In the drapery, also, the conventional lines are gone ;
and sometimes the folds have even an arranged look : thus, in the river-god's
drapery, a fold on his back is laid as though intentionally to break a monoto-
nous line. But the artistic thought stops here : this striving to imitate nature
is not coupled with any abstraction from it which would make the folds fall in
lines of beauty while following their inherent laws. The same realism strug-
gling to approach nature, and still far from idealized form, appears in the boy
handling his foot. Corresponding to this lad, at the opposite end is a female
figure, entirely unnoticed by Pausanias, — probably a local nymph, who, bent
over, seems in conversation with the bearded Alpheios reclining in the corner
of the pediment, and supporting his head on his hand. His form, no less than
the Cladeos, shows the study of nature, but as yet full of the slag of crude
materialism, and far from the idealized forms of later works, such as the river-
gods of the Parthenon.
Everywhere throughout this pedimental sculpture the drapery is far inferior
to the nude ; while in the forms of the gods and mythic heroes the nude is less
fleshly than in those of seers, hostlers, and river-gods. The drapery of the
Hippodameia is very like that of the Athena in the eleventh metope (Fig. 124),
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266 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
while that of Sterope seems treated with somewhat greater freedom. When
the drapery sweeps around the form, however, as in the kneeling maiden, the
sculptor seems unable to make it look like any thing more than coils of leather,
and evidently leaves much to be expressed by color. Altogether, in the com-
position as well as execution of this group, there seems an experimenting
and a striving, which has not yet overcome serious difficulties. The backs of
the figures are left in the rough, the whole giving very strongly the impression
of high relief. . They would show to much better advantage were they carved
out fully in the round, and thus made to cast deeper, stronger shadows to en-
liven the recess of the pediment, eighty centimeters deep.
In the opposite, or west pediment (Fig. 127), the scene is as excited as the
one just described is quiet. The fragments preserved are in such good condi-
tion, that there can be no doubt that Gruttner's restoration in small casts is
correct.467 Here is represented one of the most popular of Greek myths, and
one which gave the sculptor a chance to display far greater action. It is the
battle between Lapithae and centaurs. According to story, both Lapithes and
Kentauros, the ancestors of these contending peoples, were sons of Apollo;
but the warlike spirit and courage of the semi-human centaurs soon degen-
erated into brutality, and insubordination to law, finding vent in a quarrel about
their inheritance. This difficulty being settled, the centaurs stirred up another
family-broil at the wedding of their cousin Peirithoos with Deidameia, daugh-
ter of the Lapith Atrax. The centaurs, on smelling the wine at the feast,
refused the milk set before them, and, seizing the wine, became by it so ex-
cited that they laid violent hands upon the bride, her maidens, and the youths,
to carry them off. A fearful struggle ensued, in which the Lapithae, repre-
sentatives of law and order, with the aid of the divine Theseus, conquered
their enemy. This contest, thus significant to the Greeks of the victory of
order and right, was very frequently represented in art. Of the sculptures in
the west pediment at Olympia, Pausanias tells us less than of the figures in the
east pediment ; but, happily, enough is preserved of the fragments to leave no
doubt as to the grouping. 4^8 Of it Pausanias says, " In the middle of the pedi-
ment stands Peirithoos, on one side Eurytion, who holds the wife of Peirithoos ;
on the other, Theseus, who, with a club, keeps off a centaur. One centaur has
stolen a maiden and a beautiful boy." Pausanias closes his statement with the
conjecture that Alcamenes chose this scene because he had learned from the
Homeric songs that Peirithoos was a son of Zeus, and because he knew that
Theseus was descended in the fourth generation from Pelops. But Pausanias
must have been misinformed in many details, as they do not tally with the
marbles ; while some figures he has omitted altogether.
In the centre there towers a manly youth, having but little drapery over his
form : he stands quietly erect, with right hand outstretched, and beardless face
turned in the direction to which he points, while the left arm is dropped A
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WEST-PEDIMENT SCULPTURES, OLYMPIA.
267
part of this figure in the centre of the pedimental group appears on a larger
scale in Fig. 127. This impassive form, corresponding to the Zeus of the east
pediment, cannot be Peirithoos, the insulted bridegroom, who would naturally
join in the miUe of battle. It must be a god, present but unseen, whose
beardless face and youthful form tell us that it is Apollo, the head of these con-
tending forces ; his commanding quiet contrasting strongly with their tumul-
tuous, exaggerated action around him. His colossal head is impressive in its
severity : almond-shaped eyes, a pronounced chin, and very regular curls around
the brow, unite to form a whole which calls to mind the stern types of youth-
ful faces on the earliest red-figured vases, such as those by Hieron, Euphronios,
and others.469 In the subtile Parian marble his form seems vigorous, and full of
bold surfaces, but loses much of its
peculiar attraction in the cast. One
of the fragments of his drapery, fallen
so as not to suffer exposure, was found
colored a brilliant red.
On each side of this towering god,
not single figures meet us, loosely ar-
ranged in epic simplicity, as in the
-/Egina pediments, but groups of two
and three most intricately interlaced,
and full of dramatic fire, still, how-
ever, expressed with exaggeration.
First we see, on each side, a group
of three, — a centaur, a struggling
woman, and a warring hero. Perhaps
the centaur over which the god
stretches his hand is Eurytion carry-
ing off Deidameia, who with all her
might pushes off her foe. One hand
is put against his forehead, and the other against his beastly face. The hero
coming to her aid, and perhaps her husband, Peirithoos, has hair bound up in
festive style, and drapery falling off in his excited action. In the group on
the opposite side of the god, and figure for figure corresponding to this one,
but in detail well varied from it, much of the struggling victim is preserved,
who expresses her distress and shame as she tries to free herself from the
centaur grasping her breast. The upper part of this agitated figure is repre-
sented in Fig. 129; and her expressive face in phototype, in the Selections,
Plate I., where the stern build of the face, in all its archaic severity, as it looks
straight forward, appears to good advantage, as well as the bands bound about
the hair. By a slight bend of this head, however, speaking shadows are cast
into it, and the expression of trouble comes into the eyes and mouth. The
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268
ARCHAIC SCULFFURE.
form of Theseus standing by, swinging his weapon, and the gaping wound in
this centaur's beastly head, assure us that soon he must succumb, and his beau-
tiful victim be freed.
Beyond these groups of three, a group of two is crowded in on each side.
On one side a centaur seems, as it were, to come out of the background, and
has a boy as his victim.47o The preserved fragment of this centaur's brutal,
wrinkled face is represented, in Selections, Plate I. On the opposite side a
centaur also comes out of the background, so that only his front part appears
as he grapples with a hero, into whose arm he is biting, causing pain, as shown
by the severe, strained features of the
wounded hero.
Following these is a group of three on
each side, far more stretched out, and cor-
responding to each other, figure for figure,
but with agreeable variations. Here, to
our right, a centaur has seized a strug-
gling woman by the waist and one leg,
as if to toss her upon his back; but a
kneeling hero has caught him by the hair,
and stabs him in the broad chest. The
falling brute must soon loosen his hold,
and succumb to his wound; as the pain
written on his face, and seen in his con-
tracting chest, assures us. While there
are few lines of beauty here, how intense
the action! having all the exaggeration
and forced character we so often see in
There is here none of the harmoniously
regulated movement of a developed style. The centaur's back bends in an
ugly and unnatural hollow. Although the slope of the architecture required
the fall of these figures ; yet they do not, as similarly placed works of later
art, adapt themselves gracefully to the limitations, but are forced and unwil-
ling in their surrender. There is, besides, great inequality here in the execu-
tion, as, indeed, in all these groups. The left hand of the centaur, clutching
his victim's leg, is a masterpiece of sculptural art ; and nearly the same praise
may be given all the hands. The nude, also, as seen in the centaur's chest, is
well rendered. Often, however, the proportions seem very faulty. Perhaps
were the statues once more raised 15.25 meters (50 feet) above the level of
the eye, and placed as they originally stood, these effects might be dissipated
by the effects of light, and distant perspective, as found to be the case with
another statue from Olympia, the Nike of Paionios, whose long, stretched-out
proportions, on a level with the eye, disappear when the fragment is raised
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Fig, 129.
Struggling Woman from the W98t Pedl'
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early art, best illustrated on vases.
PICTORIAL CHARACTER OF SCULPTURES.
269
upon a lofty pedestal. But, while much success and a degree of assurance are
certainly attained in the nude, the draped parts are lacking in vigor, and the
form is lost beneath the bulky, baggy folds. Thus, in the case of this maiden
seized by the centaur, and who must have sunken on one knee, we are utterly
unable to trace her form beneath the cumbrous robes. As in the east pedi-
ment, the shortcomings of the drapery here teach us, it would seem, that the
sculptor, devoting himself to the important task of rendering the human form,
had not yet mastered the difficult problem of combining it with drapery, and
that he was, perhaps, following impressions left on his mind by paintings. The
fine-lined drapery, with its shallow folds sweeping in nearly parallel lines about
the form, as well as the whole composition like that of a great picture, call to
mind most emphatically the early red-figured vase-paintings preserved to us,
the only reminiscence left of
what must have been the .
style of the greater wall-
paintings of the first half of
the fifth century B.C.
The group to the left, cor-
responding to the one just de-
scribed, is unfortunately much
injured ; but sufficient remains
to show us, that, with shades
of difference, the scheme of
the two groups was the same.
Beyond these scenes on
each side fall unhappy wit-
nesses, two old women, doubt-
less slaves or servants of the
bride Deidameia. To raise
them up so as to fill out the
proper space, marble cushions
are placed under their arms,
which at the same time suggest the nuptial scene, where guests must have
reclined The one best preserved, and seen to our left (Fig. 130), gives ex-
pression to profound grief, as with one hand she tears her hair. So strange
is the type of this face, and so unlike our preconceived ideas of what the
Greeks did during this age, that it has been conjectured that these fallen
women, seen in the pediment in profile, represent foreign Oriental slaves. But
probably, by their wrinkles, tumbled hair, and plain garments, only age is in-
tended, as is the case in early red-figured vases. The realism here giving the
folds of the skin like those of age, the individual hairs of the eyebrows expressed
by notches, as well as the agonized expression of the faces, are a great contrast
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Fig, 130, Face of Fallen Slave of West Pediment Olympla,
270 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
to the unimpassioned features of the gods, the more ideal maidens in the
clutches of the centaurs, and the unconcerned females reclining in the extreme
corners of the pediments. The latter figures are doubtless local nymphs, per-
sonifying the springs of Thessaly, among whose hills this mythic scene was said
to have taken place. We have thus before us many elements of agreeable com-
position, filling up well the spaces allotted ; while there are evident signs that
the sculptor felt strongly the limitations of the space, as he forces his figures to
sit, kneel, crouch, or recline to suit their place.
Many resemblances between the two pediments will be observed ; for while,
in the one last considered, the composition is more varied and advanced, still
the execution, the build of the figures, the realism in certain details, as well as
the harsh, stiff forms of many heads, and the mode of rendering drapery, are
common to both. The question arising concerning the time of these sculp-
tures is certainly of great importance in judging /)f them. . Are they late works
of a feeble provincial school, as they have been considered by some } then they
must sink to comparative insignificance, even on the supposition that they are
after models due to great masters. But are they the works of an early age ?
then they afford an invaluable witness to the hardly earned steps by which art
climbed from the small, undraped, and disconnected figures of older days up to
mighty compositions like those of the Parthenon, in which all elements — the
nude, the drapery, and the composition — blend into one glorious whole. Were
they executed during the earlier half of the fifth century (470 to 460 B.C.), at
the time of the building of the temple ? then they give us the missing link long
sought between the stern iEgina groups, and stiff, early Attic sculpture on the
one hand, and the perfected marbles of the Parthenon on the other, — the latter,
as we know, not completed until late in the latter half of the century. Un-
happily, the architecture gives no sure answer, as in the case of the metopes, to
this important question. Were it found, as in the so-called Theseion at
Athens, that the sculptures of the pediments were finished before the roofing
was put on, then the question would be settled at once. As it is, we are left to
judge only from a comparison of the style of the monuments ; and a strong sup-
port of the theory that these colossal pedimental groups are genuine archaic
works, is their close kinship to the metopes of the same building, whose exe-
cution is known, from technical grounds, to have been previous to 460 B.C.
Not only in the treatment of the nude and drapery, but also in the very exten-
sive and peculiar use of color, this similarity is most marked. Thus, resem-
blances may be noticed between the rendering and cut of drapery, as seen in
the Athena and Hesperid metopes, compared with the Hippodameia, as well as
in the leathery folds of the Stymphalos metope, compared with the numerous
figures of the west pediment and the kneeling nymph of the east pediment.
The signs of a genuine archaic origin in these pediments, likewise seems evi-
dent in the exaggerated action already referred to, and in the peculiar types of
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PAIONIOS AND ALCAMENES. 271
the ideal faces so very like those of the old, red-figured vases. In the details
we may doubtless trace, not bungling, barbarous efforts of merely unskilful
workmen of a late time, but genuine archaic strivings to perfect the form.
Thus, from the set features of the Cladeos up to the impassive dignity of the
Apollo, and graceful face of a fallen nymph, there is evident a steady advance.
The eye passes from having a conventional almond-shape to pleasing and ex-
pressive curves. While there is much realism in the east pediment, cropping
out also in the faces of the old slaves of the west pediment, still, in the latter,
on the whole, a higher plane seems to be attained ; and the forms of gods, con-
tending heroes, and struggling women, are more successfully idealized. There
can be no doubt, that different hands were engaged on these extensive sculp-
tures : still, there is a unity of style in them not merely superficial, but deep-
seated, and affecting composition as well as detail.
But what the school whence these pedimental figures emanated, and who
the masters to whom they are to be ascribed, are questions of greatest interest.
According to Pausanias, the quiet chariot-group was executed by a sculptor
of Mende, an Ionian settlement in Northern Greece. This was Paionios,
who executed, besides, a colossal flying Nike, also discovered in Olympia,
and doubtless erected during the second half of the century. The inscrip-
tion on that statue shows that Paionios was actually a representative of
Ionian modes.47i
According to Pausanias, the centaur conflict, of the opposite pediment, was
by Alcamenes, whom he calls second only to Pheidias, and who, according to
others, is called sometimes a native of Attica, and sometimes of Lemnos, an
Ionian colony in the iCgean. Alcamenes is also termed the greatest scholar
of the great Attic master.^72 if Pausanias is right in ascribing sculptures so
full of tentative experimenting art to a master of so great fame as Alcamenes,
then they must have been the work of his youth. Some have tried to explain
Pausanias' statement, by supposing that Alcamenes made only small sketches,
carried out afterwards by unskilful workmen ; as he and other Attic masters
may have been obliged to flee on account of the breaking out of the Pelopon-
nesian war. But the shortcomings here are not alone those of a feeble copyist
enlarging a master's model : they seem part and parcel of the original com-
position, as seen in the faulty grouping and exaggerated action. Moreover,
their intimate relationship with the sculptures of Paionios' pediment forbid
our divorcing them from those works. It is difficult to reconcile another
statement by Pausanias, that Alcamenes was active as late as 404 B.C., with
the statement that this master was employed on the temple sculptures ; for
this would give him a very long and well-nigh impossible career of about sixty-
six years.473
In regarding these puzzling sculptures, Brunn has found in both pediments
a more pictorial than statuesque mode of conception and expression, and, in
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272 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
connection with the origin of Paionios and Alcamenes from the north, has pro-
pounded the theory that there existed in Northern Greece a peculiar school of
sculpture. 474 To this school, he believes that both Alcamenes and Paionios
belonged. As yet, there are few monuments from Northern-Greek soil to
establish the foundations of this proposition ; and, furthermore, tradition makes
no mention of such a definite school. Comparison, however, of the groups of
the west pediment with paintings on a Greek vase, now in Berlin, with red
figures of the stern type, as well as of many single heads, with other vase-paint-
ings dating from this century, confirm remarkably this prophetic theory, as far
as it concerns the influence of painting, that strong point of Ionian art. Tak-
ing up Brunn's pregnant theory, Furtwangler has developed it more widely,
believing that these works, so pictorial, and full of a bursting realism struggling
for expression, are the creations of the lonians of the northern provinces, from
whom the people of Attica learned much, as is indicated by the part played by
the Thasian Polygnotos, in Athens, during the early part of this century.475
The similarity even between motives in these sculptures, and those of red-
figured Attic vases of the sterner type, whose artists, as we know, drew their
inspiration from the great foreign Ionian painters, is most striking. Thus, on
a vase now in the Berlin Museum, is to be seen the same hero who, with arms
raised and drapery falling, in the Olympia pediment, attacks the centaur on
the left of Apollo, as well as that beautiful woman, whose bended head is
wrapped in a graceful kerchief, and who is being carried off by a centaur.
Besides, a further evidence of the influence of the old Ionian element here, is
the striking similarity between these marbles and the quaint story-telling and
pictorial terra-cotta reliefs found on the Greek islands of the iEgean, and
mentioned on p. 234. The treatment of the hair, and the caps and gay bands
adorning it, worn by women, were rendered by preference, according to tradi-
dition, by Polygnotos, and is clearly genuine Ionian. The faces, with their
attempt to express the emotions of the moment, and the intense excitement of
the scene; and, above all, the naturalistic forms of the old seers and fallen
slaves, — call to mind the recorded fact that Polygnotos knew how to represent
emotion and age as well as youth.476 it is very probable that the idea of river-
gods localizing the scene is also Ionian, and was later adopted by Pheidias for
the pediments of the Parthenon at Athens.
It may be that different streams united in Olympia, and that to Elis came
sculptors from far-off Mende and Lemnos, who worked in the lax archaic style,
as well as others who produced the severer forms of Southern Greece ; a com-
parison between these Olympia marbles and statues, found in Athens and
elsewhere, seeming to favor this idea. Thus in the erect, nude male form of
the so-called Apollo on the Omphalos, found at Athens, the copy of some
celebrated old work, but of what master we do not know, there is in the
treatment a certain resemblance to the Apollo of the west 01)rmpia pediment ;
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SCULPTURE IN THE NORTH. 273
and in the bronze priestess found at Tegea a resemblance may be traced to
the stiff, precise drapery of the Hippodameia and the Athena of the Olympia
metope.
But, whatever the final light which may be thrown upon the connections of
these marbles, they already, like the temple structure for architecture, glori-
ously fill up a gap in the history of Greek sculpture just before it had reached
its prime. While failing to meet the highest aesthetic demands, they lay the
foundation-stones, and show us how many and varied were the tasks upon which
the archaic sculptor ventured as he smoothed the way to the summit. Although
he could not express individual passion, still he caught the general scheme,
handing it on to be perfected by later times. Although he could not give the
full benignity of the god, and his radiant character, still he made him nobler
in form than mortals. Although he could not purge his realism, the fountain-
source of his inspiration, of all its dross, still the stream was clearer which
flowed from his creations ; arid we cannot fail to recognize here one of the
great tributaries of the full-flowing art-current of the early half of the fifth
century, which should bear on its bosom a Pheidias.
Passing from Olympia, we turn to consider art during the early half of
this fifth century in the more northern parts of Greece. From Naupactos in
Locris are the names of but two sculptors, Menaichmos and Sordas, who
executed an Artemis Laphria in gold and ivory as hunting. 477 From Thebes
in Bceotia was one Pythodoros, who executed for the Temple of Hera at
Coroneia a figure of the goddess, bearing on her hand Sirens.478 Ascaros, also
from Thebes, executed a thank-offering to stand in Olympia, commemorating
the Phokian victory over the Thessalians. This offering was a Zeus crowned
with flowers, and bearing a thunderbolt. 479 This latter artist, who lived in the
time of Xerxes, was probably the scholar of some Sikyon master. Two other
sculptors from Thebes, Aristomedes and Socrates, gain interest as connected
with their great countryman, Pindar, who piously dedicated, at the entrance to
his dwelling, a temple to Kybele. The statue of the goddess seated on a
throne, for this temple, was erected by these artists ; and Pausanias tells us
that statue and throne were of one block of marble.480
Two monuments have been found in Boeotia which date certainly from this
age, but the names of their sculptors are unknown. A fragment of the tomb-
stone of one Agasinos was found near the modern village Proskyria, and is now
built into the wall of a church.48" We see the worthy man leaning on his staff,
as m the tombstone by the Naxian Alxenor ; but here the head is erect, and
the drapery more natural and flowing in its lines. The shoulder and arm are
admirably rendered ; color still on the cornice above, and on beard and hair,
shows that painting played an important part in its finish ; but the face has,
no doubt, suffered severely in the process of cleansing. The Pentelic marble
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274 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
in which this pleasant low relief is carved, and its general style, call to mind
Athenian work.
Remoter Northern Greece, as scanty historical records show, also produced
masters of note. Here originated the celebrated painters, Aglaophon and Po-
lygnotos, called the father of Greek painting ; and Neseus, teacher of the far-
famed Zeuxis. Among sculptors from this part of the world were masters like
Paionios of Mende, Polygnotos, said to have been skilled in bronze as well as
color, and possibly Alcamenes, Pheidias' reputed scholar and rival. Moreover,
these shores of Thrace and the mountains of Chalkidike were rich in metal,
and Thasos had quarries of marble; while the people that had settled there
were of the artistically gifted Ionian race. Thus the materials necessary were
at hand, and monuments prove that they were not neglected by this people.
In this remote part of the Greek world, inhabited by lonians and other
Greek tribes, we find more Oriental customs than in the remaining states.
The reception which Xerxes received in Thrace and Chalkidike was charac-
terized by a magnificence and splendor quite unknown to the frugal Greeks in
the south, farther removed from the luxurious East. Judging from monu-
ments, Northern Greece appears to have inherited also the spirit and methods
of the near Orient in its art, which shows a character different from that of
the works found in the Peloponnesos and Attica, but resembling that of Asia-
Minor sculptures. 482 Ancient coins at first roused attention to peculiarities
of style not to be met with in coins of Southern Greece. 483 The oldest of
these are stamped with figures of unusual broadness and heaviness : they have
schematic treatment of details, but skilful technique, doubtless inherited from
Asia Minor, where a long practice had developed skill of hand. Coins of later
date, from Acanthos in Chalkidike, show the same broad and heavy forms,
although somewhat moderated. In these an undue fulness of the whole
design, and a fatty appearance in the details, are to be seen ; thus a lion's
mane, and the folds in his neck, though technically excellent, are rendered in
a schematic and decorative manner, spread over the whole surface of the coin.
A succession of Northern-Greek coins, well represented in the British Mu-
seum, and marked by these peculiarities, has, moreover, been traced from far
back in the sixth century B.C., through the time when archaic art was develop-
ing freer forms (480-450 B.C.), and down to a riper period.
But not coins alone witness to the artistic activity on these shores : reliefs
recently discovered, and increasing in number, likewise throw light upon it.
One of these, a fragmentary tomb-relief, found in Abdera (Thrace), and now
preserved in Athens, represents the head of a youth, with a part of his
shoulder. The generous fulness, and soft masses of regularly laid hair, in this
work, are more pleasing to the eye than the rigid, harsh muscles and severe
locks of such archaic works as the iEginetan statues. On nearer observation.
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RELIEF FROM PHARSALOS.
275
however, we find that in many of the forms, especially about the eyes, which
are but narrow, shapeless slits, there is wanting the admirable correctness of
the iEginc:;an marbles, as well as that inner life seen in Attic sculptures, in
comparison with which this face is heavy and sleepy. The resemblance to
Asia-Minor marbles, however, such as the early Ephesos reliefs, is strong ; and
it is probable that here we may trace another, but somewhat more advanced,
phase of Ionian art.
A relief in the Louvre, from Pharsalos in Thessaly, is similar in style to
this Abdera head, but a decided advance upon it. Over its surface there is
spread a charm of dignity and quiet which wins the beholder's admiration at
Fig. 131. Relief from Pharaaioe. Theaaaly. Lou ore.
once. The subject, for which no mythological interpretation has been found,
is a simple one, and once decorated a tombstone (Fig. 131). It seems to be a
happy variation of the stiff old motive in which a single flower — a symbol or
offering — was held aloft, as we have seen in the Harpy monument and the
Laconian tombstones (Figs. 88, icx)). Here the figures do not seem to ap-
proach an image of the deceased ; but we see two girls — friends, and perhaps
sisters — offer each other flowers. How daintily they hold the buds, their
hands themselves so gracefully grouped as to suggest a bunch of flowers!
How absorbing the interest expressed in these bended heads! One of the
flowers is raised high, and suggests to M. Heuzey the idea of worship ; and he
has therefore given the relief the graceful name, V exaltation de la fleur.^^^ So
easy is the flow of lines and fulness of design, well-nigh covering the back-
ground, that one is tempted, at first glance, to assign to these forms the free-
dom of art in its full prime. A second look, however, at the fixed smile ; the
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276 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
eyes in full front view, although the face is in profile ; at the schematic treat-
ment of the hair-bands, and the absence of one breast, although the other is
strongly marked ; together with the neglect of the form below, which cannot
be divined through the drapery, — shows how successfully the sculptor has
blinded our eyes by the ease he has lent his work. How different the pleasing
grace of line, and the agreeable gradations of light and shade, from the sharply
defined and sterner reliefs found about Sparta. The effect seems akin to that
produced by the painter, and is admirably adapted for purposes of decorative
relief. The lack of that vigor and strong inner life seen in the head of the
Attic disk-thrower, p. 217, marks well the difference between this work and
early Attic reliefs, but approaches the negligent ease of Asia-Minor marbles,
and may be another witness to the sources whence Attica drew its inspiration.
As further illustrating this early art in Northern Greece, and confirmatory
of Brunn's observation of peculiarities of style, may be mentioned a fine tomb-
stone from Thessalonica, now in Constantinople, representing a youthful war-
rior (cast in Munich) ; as well as two tombstones, recently discovered in Larissa
in Thessaly, in a Turkish graveyard, but now removed to the Central Museum
at Athens.**** On one of these stands a female with slightly bended head, wear-
ing a short veil, and clad in a heavy chiton. Over her head may be read, " I am
Polyxenaia." With one hand she holds her veil, and in the other carries a
pomegranate. That this lady is represented in the olden style, appears from
the quaint form of her hands and drapery, her almond-shaped eyes, and the
archaic letters of the inscription. The resemblance in the style of this graceful
but faulty sculpture to the Pharsalos sisters is such as to allow us to class
them together. To a somewhat later date belongs a second tombstone, that
of a youth found in the same place. He holds out in one hand a cock, and
raises, with the other, two small injured objects that look like pointed leaves.
In these marbles Brunn recognizes a pictorial element rendering the appear-
ance of things, but lacking in actual statuesque character. With them may
be grouped, on account of a similarity in style, the Philis tombstone from the
neighboring Thasos (Selections, Plate II.), and the Olympia temple sculptures
by Paionios and Alcamenes ; thus teaching us of a large family of sculp-
tures, which, with the kindred but humbler terra-cotta reliefs from the islands,
show us, no doubt, old Ionian sculpture laying up a rich inheritance, to be
passed on to its gifted daughter on Attic soil. Although the pictorial element
evident in these is somewhat foreign to the strict spirit of statuary, we may
believe it was a new feature of importance most necessary to perfection, and
should, when rightly applied, be productive of most pleasing modifications in
the stem forms of an art striving pre-eminently for correctness.
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PYTHAGORAS' WORKS. 277
SICILY AND SOUTHERN ITALY.
From the artistic activity of the first half of the fifth century in Greece,
we may pass over to Sicily and Southern Italy, where Tyrants, who, as has
been seen, were great patrons of art, still held control over the people.
The name of but one master — Pythagoras — who was active in Rhegion is
preserved, but an inscription found recently at Olympia informs us that he
came from Ionian Samos.486 Like his great fellow-countryman, the philoso-
pher Pythagoras of an earlier day, he was reputed to have been exceedingly
homely in feature. Pliny also tells us, that he was in his prime in Olymp. 90.
He must, however, at that time have been a very old man, if the statement be
true that he won the prize over his great contemporary, Myron, in the early
part of the century.487 Pausanias calls him a scholar of Clearchos of Rhegion,
who, in the sixth century, had learned his profession of Spartan and Corinthian
masters.488 The material used by Pythagoras was exclusively bronze ; and,
judging from the records of the ancients, he must have lent a marked indi-
viduality to his creations. None of his original works have, however, been
preserved ; nor is a single reproduction of his many statues known to us with
certainty. One god by Pythagoras, an Apollo shooting a serpent, perhaps the
Python, cannot, as has been supposed, be echoed to us on small silver coins of
Croton in Southern Italy, where such a scene is represented ; since the com-
position seems planned directly for the coins. 489 For the son of Mnaseas of
Kyrene, Cratisthenes, a victor in the chariot-race at Olympia, Pythagoras exe-
cuted his statue in a chariot, and with steeds. Nike, the goddess of Victory,
likewise occupied the chariot ; and we are reminded, by this description, of a
gold coin of the middle of the fourth century, from Kyrene, in which an
archaic and statuesque Nike thus appears on the chariot, and is possibly a
reminiscence from this group by Pythagoras, which must long have been cele-
brated among the Kyreneans.490 Europa on a steer, in bronze, was a work by
this master, which was anciently in Tarentum.491 His portrait of a Theban
musician, in a long robe and with lyre, came to be called "the just," from the
circumstance, that, when Thebes was devastated by Alexander in the following
century, this statue faithfully guarded in the folds of its drapery money hidden
there by a fugitive. 492 Of mythological heroes, Pythagoras is said to have rep-
resented the struggle of Eteocles and Polyneikes, the Theban brothers, as well
as a Perseus with wings.493 But his bronze figure of a wounded hero at Syra-
cuse, probably Philoctetes, has become more celebrated than any of these.494
In it the sufferings of this Trojan hero, " from a venomed wound made by a
serpent's fangs," were so admirably expressed, that the figure received the
name of the "limping statue." One poet puts into Philoctetes' mouth the sad
lament, that the sculptor had made unending his pain, having embodied it in
imperishable bronze. 495 Many are the scenes on gems, vases, and in bronze, ,
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278 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
which represent this wounded hero ; but whether any of them bear relation-
ship to Pythagoras' statue we do not know. It is said of Pythagoras, more-
over, that he was the first to evolve the expression of rhythm and symmetry ;
and it is possible, that, in one little gem representing Philoctetes, and now in
Berlin, we have an intimation of these qualities, every part sharing in the
motion of the whole. It is expressed partly in the crossing of the muscular
action from one side of the body to the other. Thus, the left arm seems to
share with the right leg the strained movement, while the right arm and lame
left leg show their sympathy by a laxer motion. 49^
More numerous than his statues of gods, goddesses, and mythological heroes,
were Pythagoras' athletes for the sacred grove at Olympia. Seven were seen
by Pausanias, who, in spite of his usually succinct style, does not omit to
praise several of them. 497 One was a statue of Euthymos, said to have been
especially fine. Wherein its excellences consisted, Pausanias fails to tell us,
only recounting the heroic honors received by this athlete, who, after winning
in Olymp. 74, 76^ and yj, in the struggle of boxers, was accredited with superi-
ority to common mortals. He was said to have fought successfully with an
ancient hero who held a virgin in durance in his temple. The victorious Eu-
thymos, having freed her, took her to wife, and lived many years, until one day
he miraculously disappeared, never to be seen again. The pedestal, but unfor-
tunately not the statue, of this famous boxer, has been discovered at Olympia,
with Pythagoras' name.498 Other statues by this master were a wrestler, a
racer in full armor, besides a pancratiast which stood in Delphi, and secured
Pythagoras the prize over Myron. 499 That his athletes were not all portraits we
can be sure ; since an iconic, or portrait-statue, was allowed only to those who
had been thrice victorious. This subordination of the portrait in statuary,
doubtless caused the sculptor's energies to be directed to the careful rendering
of the body ; and it is said of Pythagoras in this regard, that he made the sinews
and veins as had not been done before, s^o It is barely possible that the ad-
vance noticed from the older to the later iEginetan marbles in the representa-
tion of veins and muscles, may illustrate the changes attributed to Pythagoras
in this direction. Previous to his time the treatment of the hair also had been
conventional, its lines of mathematical regularity, or in stiff spirals. Here, also,
Pythagoras is said to have introduced new ways. The difficulty of expressing
in marble, or dark, harsh bronze, the softness and airiness of hair, with the
thousand varying lights playing about it, together with the massed effect of
nature, is felt even to-day. In works of sculptors, otherwise marked by origi-
nality, we find that the hair is conventionally treated ; or, as the workmen in
the studios express it, when asked for information, " the hair is always made
so nowadays."
From such scattered notices is obtained our fragmentary knowledge of this
great master. The only satisfactory conclusion is the general one, that, through
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MONUMENTS FROM SOUTHERN ITALY.
279
the introduction of continual and fine changes, he took steps which should lead
up to greater truthfulness and perfect rhythmical motion.
The Tyrants of Sicily and people of Southern Italy were in intimate inter-
course with Greece. Besides the Samian Pythagoras, they employed, to execute
many thank-offerings for their Olympic shrines, masters from the parent-land.
So, as we have seen, for the Tarentines, Onatas and Ageladas worked ; Glau-
kias of iEgina for Gelon ; Glaucos and Dionysos of Argos, for Smikythos of
Rhegion ; and for Hieron, Tyrant of Syracuse, we shall find that Calamis of
Athens was employed.
Neither Southern Italy nor Sicily appears to have been favored with native
marble ; and the quarries of Carrara, in the north, were not
discovered until the second century of our era. The old
sculptors in Southern Italy were then obliged to use either
stone or imported marble. Such a lack of suitable material
must have been an obstacle in their way, and may partially
explain the fact, that in Sicily and Southern Italy, though
settled by people from Greece, marble sculpture, even in
later times, never seems to have developed as^in Greece
itself.
In Southern Italy very few archaic sculptural monuments
have been discovered. The metopes of an old Doric temple
at Paestum, afterwards used in a Roman structure, are so
seriously injured that it is well-nigh impossible to divine
even their subjects. s©' In Metapontum, a few fragments of
sculpture in relief, of an early transitional style, have very
recently been discovered ; at Tarentum, thousands of terra-
cottas, some of which show a like early origin ; and at Locri
a few others of more agreeable composition. 502 Thus, little
by little, the hidden things are coming out in Southern Italy,
to throw light on the art of the early half of the fifth cen-
tury. But as yet they are so fragfmentary, that, for our knowledge of the art-
life of these colonies at that time, we are still mainly dependent upon coins
beautifully illustrated in Gardner's "Types of Greek Coins."
A small female figure, standing on an Ionic pillar, and once carrying a
basket, all in bronze, was bought in Paestum, where it was probably found,
and is now in the Berlin Museum (Fig. 132). The archaic character and the
mounting of this little work gfive it interest, as well as its old dedicatory in-
scription, and the religious usages it expresses. From literary sources we
know that it was customary for young maidens of good family, spotless char-
acter, and beautiful person, to bear on the head, in religious processions, a
basket containing objects necessary in the ritual. 503 The Attic basket-bearers,
or canephorai^ in life were arrayed in rich robes, studded with gold-leaf, and bore ,
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fig. 132. Phino'aPedt'
catoty Qlft to Athe-
na, a Canephoros In
Bronze. From Paee-
tum. Berlin Muaeum.
28o
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
on their heads sacred baskets, likewise richly ornamented with precious metaL
They were required to observe a solemn demeanor suited to their honored posi-
tion as priestesses ; and the effect of their persons was heightened by artifi-
cially colored cheeks and beautiful jewellery, the property, as we are told, of the
temple. How inspiring to the sculptor the sight of these maidens must have
been as they walked in stately procession^
bearing their treasure ! Their statues were»
however, not due to aesthetic inspiration
alone. The main cause was the pious cus-
tom of dedicating to deity an image, in re-
membrance of the duties performed in the
ritual. Thus, in this bronze from Paestum,
we have one of these youthful priestesses,
whom we should picture to ourselves as
steadying lightly the basket, now gone,
with one hand, and with the other lifting
her long, trailing Ionian robes, as she ad-
vances one foot.
An archaic verse, reading from right to
left, encircles the top of the pillar, stating
that Phillo dedicates this as a tithe to
Athena; thus showing, that the office of
canephoros must have had some remunera-
tion, a tenth of the income being presented
to the goddess. This quaint figure, exquisite
in finish, and elaborate in its drapery, as it
stood on its slender Ionic column, of which
only the capital is preserved, indicates to
us, besides, the variety in the ancient modes
of mounting votive statuettes.
There is, in the British Museum, a beauti-
ful bronze, which purports to come from Ve-
rona, but is, doubtless, the work of some
genuine Greek master (Fig. 133). It is
seven inches high, and exquisite in execu-
tion. This ancient lady has a round face of rare sweetness, but of decided
strength ; and out of her eyes gems still flash a tender, bewitching light. Her
toilet is an elaborate old-fashioned one, very like that of Phillo, the basket-
bearer of Paestum ; but her hair is differently arranged. This dainty figure,
of whose grace and charm, like that of the first buds of spring, it is difficult
to gain an adequate impression except in its presence, still stands on its tiny
pedestal, and must have been, like Phillo's statuette, one of those votive gifts
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Fig, 183. BronxB Statuette wtth Eyea 0/ Dtor
mondt. BritiMh Mufum,
MANY ARCHAIC BRONZES NOT ETRUSCAN. 28 1
so frequently consecrated to deity by pious worshippers of antiquity. The
left hand with its symbol, which would give us a key to its name and office,
is, alas ! now gone. The gesture of the other hand is like that of the cane-
pharos above described, and is worthy of notice. On old vase-paintings. Aph-
rodite, unlike the stern Athena, appears continually thus playing with her
garment. On the handle of a mirror, in the British Museum, where she is
accompanied by Eros, she raises her robe, as does this statuette. But other
goddesses of archaic style also have this gesture, as seen in the figures found
in Athens and on Delos, as well as in one with lions, perhaps Kybele, from a
mirror-handle in the British Museum. As we have seen in Phillo's figure, it
is not a gesture confined to goddesses, but shared by mortals. Its frequent
recurrence in so many old works seems to suggest a movement taken from life
of lifting trailing garments. This attitude came to be applied to statuary by
artists who at first used it indiscriminately for different goddesses. In time it .
doubtless gained a special religious significance, and as such was adopted by
the Romans to characterize their goddess Spes. In the exquisite face of this
statuette in the British Museum ; in its form, no longer buried, but hesitatingly
reflected, by the quaint, regular drapery, bordered by a meander of inlaid silver
and enamel, — the artist has produced a work which, although of inferior size,
is great in art. How delicate his taste in representing the eyes ! Our pre-
possession is not in favor of the inlaid eyes, said to have been commonly used
in ancient Greek masterpieces. We suspect that they must have given a pain-
fully lifelike expression ; and so we prefer the dark, cavernous sockets, which
we are accustomed to see, despoiled of their gems. But how tender and gentle
the expression of life lent to this face by the sparkle of the diamonds ! Instead
of imitating the natural eye in its details, our artist has simply lodged a point
of light in the dark silver eyeball. In view of such works, in which we still
feel the bands binding the artist, but through them his striving to attain the
beautiful, our admiration may well be enkindled.
That this work, so full of the Greek spirit, should have come from Verona,
whither it may have floated in trade from the neighboring Etruria, should not
surprise us ; since a figure very like it, but wearing shorter garments, was found
in the latter country. 504 There is much reason to believe, in consequence of
comparisons made by modem study, that such fine archaic bronzes were
not of Etruscan manufacture, but were imported from the Greek colonies in
Southern Italy, and probably also from the corresponding cities in their parent-
lands, whence came, as already seen, even so great a master as Pythagoras of
Samos. To this family of archaic bronzes of grand style from Italy, but far
too noble to be of Etruscan origin, must belong such works as the famous
Chimaera in Florence, and the splendid Cortona lamp, full of the early Ionian
spirit despite their Etruscan inscriptions, which were doubtless scratched in
afterwards. 505
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282
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
Sicily offers somewhat more in archaic sculpture than do its neighboring
states ; its works being well-preserved temple-sculptures from Selinus, now in
the museum at Palermo, s^^ These are in stone, and decorated a temple built
later than that to which the famous metopes of Selinus, described above, be-
longed (p. 221). Among the sculptures are scenes from the combats of gods
with giants, — the same subject which, as we have seen (p. 211), had been em-
ployed by other and older sculptors to decorate the Megara treasury in Olympia.
On one of these reliefs (Fig. 134), now in the Palermo Museum, a goddess, prob-
ably Athena, appears, planting one foot firmly on the leg of her fallen enemy.
Fig, 134, AthBiia Mlaytng a Qtant From Stllnua, PtUtrmo,
who raises his arm as if to defend himself. As the upper half of the goddess
is unfortunately gone, we can only imagine her gesture of attack or triumph.
Her motion is full of swing, but not stormy, as may be seen from the quiet
drapery. In keeping with ancient song, the giant here is shaped and armed like
men, having a trim human form and warrior's helmet. His position is natural ;
but his stereotyped face, painfully regular hair and beard, and the position of
Athena's farther foot, planted firmly on the ground when it should naturally be
poised on the toes, show clearly that this relief has its place among those
archaic works in which many features of the old still appear, but are vanish-
ing before the strong new life.
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CHAPTER XVI.
ADVANCED ARCHAIC SCULPTURE (c(m€luded).^AmQIi.
Prominence of Attica. — Character of its Population. — National Customs, etc — Influence of these on
Art — Themistocles. — Kimon. — Polygnotos. — Statues of Tyrant-slayers. — Critios and Nesiotes.
— Hegias. — Notices of Artistic Activity. — Existing Monuments. — Relief of Charioteer mounting
Chariot. — Relief of Hermes Criophoros. — Calamis and his Works. — ^.Myron and his Works. —
His Marsyas. — His Animals. — Myron's Cow. — The Discobolos. — The Athlete dropping Oil. —
Athlete of the Vatican. — General Characteristics of the Art of this Period.
The interest of this fifth century culminates in Attica. During the Persian
war, Athens had been the stronghold of patriotism. Athenians had fortified
their city, and fallen on many battle-fields ; while other states had lingered in
the background, or fraternized with the enemy. It is not strange, then, that
Athens reaped in time the richest harvest, and that the Attic state, although
overrun, plundered, and twice burned, by the Persians, during the early part
-of the fifth century, was the seat of an artistic activity which should surpass
that of its senior sisters of the Peloponnesos. From time immemorial the
Ionian Athenians had, unlike the exclusive Spartans, hospitably received all
new-comers, whether from the Peloponnesos, or Ionia in the East. Thus fresh
life was poured into the state, and its civilization became a rich blossom of all
that had gone before. The banished nobility of other states, the cream of the
people, had been welcomed here ; and, intermingling with the old Athenian aris-
tocracy, these independent and more experienced families had formed a happy
union with the old, native, conservative stock. From such union sprang men
like Pericles and Alkibiades ; and to this spirit was due the broad, generous
policy so strongly contrasted to that of their exclusively mercantile neighbor
Corinth, and the narrow-minded peoples of other parts of the Peloponnesos. A
wise ordering of the state, and great regard for public and private duty, had pre-
pared the Athenians for the stem ordeal of the Persian war, and brought them
successfully through it. Children had been taught that obedience was a
religious duty ; and parents and guardians who neglected the children's wel-
fare were called to account before the Areopagus, and subjected to public
dishonor. The physical well-being of the youth was cared for by daily exer-
cise in the palastra and gymnasium, in which generations of robust, beauti-
ful, and well-trained men were reared. Soul and mind were moulded by the
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284 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
study of their classics, and by the cultivation of music. The Homeric epos
awakened the heroic sense and a love for great deeds ; while the hymns and
lyric verse, with their pious aspirations, and rich fund of holy legend, aroused
the religious sentiment in the breast of each free-born Athenian boy. Thus
public-minded citizens were produced, broad in the scope of their character,
and manifold in their interests ; and the effect of this liberal training was to
make the Athenians, first of all, citizens, and after that merchants, sailors,
etc. Moreover, they clung affectionately to their ancient gods, who they be-
lieved had aided them in the ordeal of war, and given them the victory at
Marathon. Pan, of old an honored Athenian deity, came, they believed, to
their aid ; and Theseus arose from the underworld to join his people in battle.
It was said that the heroes Marathon and Echetlos were seen fighting even in
the ranks. Simplicity also marked this age. The rich dwelt in unpretending
houses, and only the gods were worthy of dwellings of beautiful stone and fine
workmanship. The adherence of the Athenians to their old divinities was,
moreover, mingled with deep, intensely human feelings. This more truly
human spirit showed itself in the humblest departments of art. The Attic
vase-painters no longer keep the stiff, conventional groupings, and well-nigh
exclusively typical mythical scenes, they had learned from their neighbors. 507
They ascribe far more of the poetry of human life to the actions of their gods
and heroes, and introduce, in addition, into their art, every-day scenes, such as
pleasant pictures from the schoolroom, and the like. We long to be able to
picture to ourselves, in detail, the Attic life of this century, which was bringing
to blossom the flowers of- a civilization richer than any that had gone before.
To realize its perfect bloom, we need but call to mind the names of the poets»
philosophers, and statesmen of this century, — iEschylos, Sophocles, Euripides,
Socrates, Aristeides, Themistocles, and Pericles ; and her sculptors, — a Myron,
a Calamis, and a Pheidias.
In daily life, as we are told, the ceremonious linen robes of the men of the
olden time, trailing upon the ground, came to be supplanted by a shorter,
lighter garb, consisting of a woollen under-garment without sleeves, and a four-
cornered mantle wrapped about the body, leaving the right shoulder bare.
The hair was no longer left to grow, and be adorned with a golden cicade^ nor
the beard trimmed into a prim and pointed shape. The solemn, stately gait
while treading the street, with slaves bearing cushioned chairs, was no longer
in vogue. Dress and life became adapted to the earnest, active duties of
citizens in a new state fermenting with fresh life.
According to tradition, the Daidalids had long practised their trade in Athens :
but in the sixth century, according to the monuments, the influence of Asia
Minor and the islands, especially Paros, prevailed in sculpture ; and thus seeds
pregnant with rich fruit had been sown on this susceptible Attic soil.
Under Themistocles, during the first decade of the fifth century, the walls
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THE TYRANT-SLAYERS. 285
of threatened Athens steadily arose in the midst of difficulties as great as those
met by Nehemiah and Ezra in a similar work. A law freed from taxation
workmen and artists engaged in thus rebuilding and fortifying the city, and
numbers were attracted thither to vie with one another and the native
Athenians in their labors. Later, from Thasos came also Polygnotos, the
father of Greek painting, destined to exercise a great influence on Attic art,
and to assist Kimon in commencing to beautify Athens, — a work which
Pericles and his associates should carry to highest perfection.
What we know of the Attic sculptors of the first part of this century is
associated with a great political change which took place during the latter
half of the preceding century. The later Tyrants of the house of Peisistratos,
Hipparchos and Hippias, then assumed the bearing of luxurious foreign princes,
rather than of free-born, frugal Greeks ; and their over-weening spirit awakened
a general feeling of discontent among the Athenians. Hipparchos went so
far as to insult a noble old Athenian family by refusing the daughter a place
among the bearers of the sacred baskets in Athena's festive procession, as was
her right with other high-bom maidens of the city. Her offended brother,
Harmodios, and his older friend, Aristogeiton, determined to have vengeance,
and resolved to slay the Tyrants on the day of the festival. Tyrants and
people were assembled, when the conspirators, believing themselves betrayed,
rushed prematurely into the crowd ; and in the mlUe Hipparchos and Harmo-
dios were slain. The enraged and affrighted Hippias, having quelled the
•disturbance, imprisoned those suspected, and put many of them to torture.
In 510 B.C. Hippias was, however, obliged to flee; and the two friends who
had brought about this result were looked upon as the martyrs of freedom and
the saviors of the people. Their statues, the work of Antenor, were set up in
a public place in Athens in honor of the now deified heroes. 508 Offerings were
made, and song brought its tribute, saying that Harmodios was not dead, but
lived on the island of the blest, companion of Achilles and Diomedes. This
group, by Antenor, was carried off by Xerxes, who robbed Athens in 480 B.C.
of many of its precious ancient images. Long centuries after, a Greek con-
queror, a successor of Alexander, returned these loved objects from far-off
Ecbatana in Persia to Athens. Coming by way of Rhodes, the statues of the
heroes were received with great religious pomp, and honored with a festival
such as was held to the gods.
Still another Attic sculptor, Amphicrates, is known to us in connection
with this bold attempt to slay the Athenian Tyrants. 509 Upon the death of
Hipparchos, the surviving ruler, Hippias, put to torture the girl Leaina,
Aristogeiton' s friend, in order to force from her information concerning the
conspiracy. The girl, however, kept silent, until death put an end to her
sufferings. The good old Athenians, desirous to honor such courage, but
unwilling, as the story goes, to honor a courtesan with a statue on the Acrop-
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286
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
olis, ordered Amphicrates, as suggestive of her name, to execute the statue of a
lioness, whose open, tongueless jaws should indicate the girl's steadfast silence.
After Xerxes* plundering expedition, a new group, in bronze, of the two Tyrant-
slayers was erected at Athens in place of the one carried off by the invader.
This was done by Critios and Nesiotes, the latter, perhaps, from Naxos.509»
Numerous repetitions of an excited group of two men rushing forward in
attack, indicate that the original from which these works were derived was a
very favorite one in antiquity. These are found on coins ifetradrachnia)^ leaden
Fig, 136, Harmodlos and ArlatogBitM: (a) /?«//«/ from Chair in Athtna; (6) Coin of AtHnig {o, d) StotiMt lit
Maplos, — all traeoabit to a Qroup by Criiiot and MoilotOM,
marks and vases from Athens, all of which are doubtless allied to the group by
Critios and Nesiotes. 5>o Instances of these repetitions of this subject are on
the shield of an Athena, painted on a prize-vase now in the British Museum r
on the arm of a marble chair found in Athens (Fig. 135 ^i) ; and on Athenian
coins of the fifth century (6). It has also been recognized in the statues (c, d)
now in Naples, restored as gladiators standing apart, and, where untouched by
the restorer, having a lean and sinewy look. In Florence also is a replica of
one of the statues, but executed without any archaism. In these groups the
majority of archaeologists recognize Aristogeiton in the older, bearded figure
with extended arm, on which hangs his mantle ; and in the younger Harmo-
dios, who raises his arm as if to strike a blow. On a vase in Wiirzburg. this
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CRITICS AND NESIOTES. 287
same group appears, storming against a Tyrant, thus making well-nigh con-
clusive the relationship of all these monuments to the bronze figures of the
Attic heroes by Critios and Nesiotes. The head of the Aristogeiton {d) in
Naples is restored : and it is possible that a bearded head in Madrid, inscribed
Pherekydes, may belong to it, as suggested by Treu ; but the life which must
have pulsated in the body of the energetic Tyrant-slayer is certainly not ex-
pressed in this neck, whose muscles seem inactive, and more suited to a statue
in quiet. That Critios' and Nesiotes' group must have enjoyed a very great
fame, appears from its frequent representation on so many different kinds of
Athenian monuments, sometimes as seen from one side, and sometimes from
the other. The fire of these excited companions, and the earnestness of their
mission, moreover, seem exaggerated in expression, in true keeping with the
olden time, to which the group must have belonged.
Critios, one of the sculptors of this celebrated group, is said to have been
the head of a school which lasted for several generations ; but, of the masters
comprising it, we know little besides their names. It may be possible, in time,
to trace in archaic Attic works its influence.*" Several tantalizing inscriptions
from pedestals have been found on the Acropolis, with the names of Critios
and Nesiotes ; but we learn nothing from them of their works and artistic
style, compared by Lucian to that of the old writers, "compressed, sinewy,
rigid, and sharply outlined." 5»a Pliny styles these men the rivals of Pheidias ;
but they were, no doubt, much his seniors. 5^3
Another old Attic master, Hegias, is also mentioned. His works are said
by Pliny to have been an Athena ; a Pyrrhos, son of Achilles ; and the Dios-
curi, seen in later days before the temple of Jupiter Tonans at Rome.5H His
celetizontes pueri may have been like those boys on horseback, connected with
the graves, such as we have seen in painting decorated the tombstone of Lysias ;
and such a figure in the round, in the hard style of early art, has been discov-
ered near Athens.5'5 The general interest of this Athenian master lies, how-
ever, not so much in his works, termed harsh and stiff by the ancients, as in-
the fact that he was the first teacher of Pheidias.
From the scanty literary notices of artistic activity in Athens during the
years previous to the Persian war, we learn that Miltiades consecrated a goat-
footed Pan on the Acropolis, and that Themistocles put up a statue of a water-
carrying maiden, as a warning against the abuse of water-privileges ; the cost
of the statue having been defrayed with moneys collected as fines for such
abuse. This figure was carried o£E by the Persians with their other booty.
When the wall of Athens, three years after the battle of Salamis, was to
be built, in accordance with the decision of people and council, a statue of
Hermes Agoraios was dedicated by the archons^ — a work so fine, that, as we
learn, it became thoroughly black from the continual moulds taken by later
artists.5»6 ^
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288
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
Of existing Athenian monuments, dating from this time of transition, and
showing the attainments of Attic artists, we have painfully few. Socrates the
philosopher, son of Sophroniscos a sculptor, was said to have followed, in his
youth, his father's profession ; and the ciceroni about the Acropolis showed
Pausanias a group of Graces said to have been from his hand. 5 '7 Fragments
of this work have probably been preserved to us in a relief on the Acropolis ;
but, if these graceless Graces were indeed executed by Socrates, we do not
wonder that he exchanged his father's profession for that of philosopher.
One relief on the Acropolis shows us, however, all the beauty and grace of
budding Attic art5'8 (pig. 136). It represents a draped figure mounting a
Fig. 136, RbUb/ found in AthMt. OharM and Chariot— r. Athwa.
chariot, while the horses seem to be standing still. As the head-dress is that
generally worn by bearded figures, it is difficult to tell whether it is a male or
female charioteer. The contrast to the sterner iEginetan art is evident in the
easy bend of the form and the eager naturalness of gesture, showing clearly
that exuberant life in Attic art which corresponds with ancient descriptions of
the people. But the regularity of the folds of the drapery, and the carefully
hanging zigzags, show that freedom is not yet attained ; although there is a
fascination about the quaintly graceful forms, like that of early buds promising
a world of beauty when summer has unfolded their closed and delicate petals.
A no less beautiful work is a small altar, discovered in Athens, having all
the features of genuine archaic art. On one side (Fig. 137) is seen Hermes,
still bearded and elderly, carrying on his shoulders one of the rams of the flocks
he protects, and holding his kerykcion, or caduceus (Hermes Criophoros).5'9 On
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MYRON AND CALAMIS.
289
another side of the altar is a gracefully draped goddess, perhaps Aphrodite.
In the form of Hermes, there is all the grandeur and breadth of a well-nigh
perfectly developed art, the hair and drapery alone betraying its origin before
the climax had been reached. That this grand fragment is not a late imitation
of some fine archaic original, but a genuine production of those old times,
appears, moreover, from the ornament happily preserved on the upper cornice
of the altar. Here there is still the restraint and extreme simplicity of old bor-
ders : while in archaistic reliefs, although attempts arfe made to give the human
figure in all its stiffness, in the borders the
artist revels in the full luxury of richly de-
veloped forms ; instance the well-known mar-
ble standard of the Dresden Museum, where
Apollo and Heracles contend for the sacred
tripod. Such works as this unpretending altar,
with its grandly conceived reliefs, calling to
mind somewhat the noble simplicity of figures
on the earlier red-figured vases, may, no doubt,
give us a very high idea of the attainments of
Attic art during the earlier half of the fifth
century B.C.
A few single statues discovered in Athens
show, moreover, that different streams of in-
fluence were probably here at work ; and it is
one of the great and absorbing problems of
modem archaeology to trace out these streams,
and their effects on the time to come. One of
these peculiar branches is represented by the figure of a boy discovered on the
Acropolis at Athens. This statue has been published with a keen discernment
of its peculiarities and affinities by Furtwangler.s^o
Fig. 137. RBllef of HermBa Criophoroa, Out
8idB of an A itar found in A thena, A thana.
But there remain to be considered in Attica two masters of great impor-
tance, whose prime was in the first half of this century, — Calamis and Myron,
Calamis is not positively stated to have been a native of Athens ; but this may
be inferred, since his works were principally there : and Praxias, his only scholar
mentioned, is called an Athenian. The fact that Calamis executed for Pindar a
statue of Zeus Ammon, which the poet dedicated in Thebes, must place his
age before Olymp. 85, when the aged poet died.5ai Calamis' widely scattered
works were most varied in subject and material. No less than three statues of
Apollo are mentioned as coming from his hand. One of these, a bronze colos-
sus 13.72 meters (45 feet) high, and reported to have cost five hundred talents
(about six hundred thousand dollars), was in Apollonia on the Pontus, whence
it was later removed to Rome.522 Another was an Apollo Alexicacos (warder-
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290 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
off of the pestilence), in the Kerameicos ; and a third, in marble, is said by
Pliny to have been in his day in the Servilian gardens at Rome.s^a For Hieron
of Syracuse he executed two horses with their boy-riders, in honor of that ruler's
Olympic victories (Olymp. 78), — another proof that Calamis belongs in this
period. 524 This work was seen by Pausanias, together with Onatas' chariot.
Pliny tells us that still other chariots and horses were executed by him, the
horses being always most excellent. The anecdote was told in antiquity, that a
certain Praxiteles, in order that Calamis should not appear to be less able to
represent men than horses, substituted for a charioteer by Calamis one from
his own hand. 525 This Praxiteles is supposed by some to have been the grand-
father of the celebrated Attic master of the following century, but, by the
majority of scholars, that master himself. 5^6 From Calamis' hand, at Corinth,
was a beardless Asclepios in gold and ivory, holding a sceptre and pineapple ;
and, in Tanagra, a Dionysos in Parian marble. 5*7 At Tanagra was also his
Hermes Criophoros, carrying a ram on his shoulders. 5^8. The Tanagra Hermes
was a thank-offering for the deliverance of the city from a plague. To purge
the afflicted city, the god was believed to have walked about its walls, bearing
on his shoulder a ram, the symbol of atonement. In after-times the most beau-
tiful youths were chosen, at the yearly festival of this god, to carry a lamb about
the walls in like manner. It has been shown by Professor von Duhn, that the
graceful relief of Hermes bearing a ram, described above, cannot be a reflex of
Calamis' celebrated statue of Hermes Criophoros. s^s*
For the people of Acragas, in Sicily, he executed, in thanks for the con-
quest of Motya, a votive gift of bronze boys, who, with right hands raised,
seemed to be praying to the gods.5«9
Of Calamis' Nike, seen by Pausanias at 01)rmpia, we know only that it was
dedicated by the Mantineians, and was wingless, after the pattern of the old
image of the goddess in Athens, probably representing Athena Nike herself. 530
At Athens, on the ascent to the Acropolis, was an Aphrodite by him, conse-
crated by one Callias.53i
Calamis' fame seems due principally to the grace and charm of his female
figures. Among these are found frequently mentioned Aphrodite, Hermione,
Alcmene, and Sosandra ; and his works are continually described as combin-
ing grace with archaic severity. 532 He seems to have thrown around the con-
strained members a finesse hitherto unknown, and, in addition, made the soul
speak through the face. The fine critic, Lucian, bears testimony to this pecul-
iar and modest beauty of Calamis' statues, in his description of the charms of
a certain lady. He says, " She has the hair, forehead, eyebrows, and languish-
ing eye of Praxiteles' Aphrodite; the cheek, front face, hands, and feet of
Alcamenes' Aphrodite ; the outline of feature, softness of cheek, and propor-
tion of nose, of Pheidias* Lemnian Athena, and the mouth and neck of his
Amazon ; " but he crowns all by saying, " She has the bashful demeanor, the
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MYRON'S WORKS- 29 1
unconscious and chaste smile, and the well-ordered and becoming drapery, of
Calamis* Sosandra."532a Quintilian and Cicero further declare his works to
have been less rigid than those of Canachos, but by no means free from harsh-
ness ; and it is perhaps suitable, with Brunn, to compare his statues with the
works of the pre-Raphaelites, the saints of Perugino or Francia, and the quaint,
sweet faces and forms of Mino da Fiesole.533 Many have been the attempts to
trace existing works back to this celebrated master, but his peculiarities are
too vaguely transmitted by the ancients for safe conclusions.
We are much happier with regard to Calamis* contemporary, Myron, who,
although a native of Bceotia, lived mostly in Athens. Like Pheidias and Poly-
cleitos, he was a scholar of old Ageladas of Argos. Of his later years, it is
related, that, although his statues were scattered from Asia Minor to Sicily, he
was so poor that no one cared to be his heir. 534 For iEgina he executed a wooden
Hecate. 535 In Ephesos was an Apollo from his hand, which, after being carried
off, was returned by Augustus, warned to do so, it was said, in a dream. 536 Ac-
cording to Cicero, another Apollo, having Myron's name inlaid on its thigh in
fine silver letters, was robbed by Verres from a temple at Agrigentum.537 His
statue of Dionysos was taken from its shrine in Orchomenos by Sulla, and
dedicated anew on .Mount Helicon, — a dealing significantly called, among the
Greeks, " burning before the gods incense which belongs to another." 53^ Two
statues of Heracles, as well as a group of Zeus, Athena, and Heracles, by
Myron, also passed through Roman hands. The latter work was removed from
the Temple of Hera at Samos, to Rome, by Antony, where Augustus took
from it the Zeus, for which he built a chapel on the Capitol, returning the two
remaining figures to Samos. 539 Myron also executed a Nike on a steer ; a Per-
seus, who had slain the Gorgon; and an Erechtheus, seen by Pausanias in
Athens, who declared it to be remarkably fine. 54©
Still one other group of a mythological character, Athena and Marsyas, is
mentioned by Pliny as the work of Myron ; and copies, or better suggestions, of
this work, have, happily, been found on an Athenian coin, a vase, and a relief.
We likewise have reminiscences of this work by Myron, in two statues, —
one of life-size in marble, in the Lateran (Fig. 138) ; and the other a bronze,,
but little more than two feet high, in the British Museum, which came from
Patras.541 Athena, according to Greek myth, had invented the flute, making
it sigh out the wails and hisses of the Gorgon sisters. While blowing it, the
goddess noticed that her features were distorted, and in anger threw away the
hated instrument. The music-loving satyr, Marsyas, caught it up, hoping by
its charmed notes to excel even Apollo, the god of the solemn lyre. Myron's
group, as described by the ancients, and represented on a vase found at Athens,
must have shown the goddess in angry gesture, checking Marsyas in his eager
advance to catch the flute. The Lateran statue, falsely restored as if dancing,
should represent him as disappointed, and drawing back from AtheiM^ : ^and^^
292
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
bronze of the British Museum repeats the motive, but in more slender forms.
The Lateran figure was found in Rome in the ruins of an ancient studio, with
many other statues and fragments, having sculptors' tools, such as saws, still in
them. It represents admirably the satyr-like character of the eager musician,
who has here lost all the reminiscences of his equine origin, found on Etruscan
and Dodona statuettes, and has become fully human, — having, however, still
much of the animal in the shape of the
skull ; the turned-up nose, with its low
bridge, indicating sensuality; and the eyes
set obliquely, as well as in the long ears, and
full growth of bristling hair. The impres-
sion of the leap, as he retreats, is destroyed
by the support necessary in the marble ; but,
by concealing this addition from the eye,
there appears that lifelike motion so admira-
bly rendered in Myron's Discobolos. There
is, moreover, a leanness about the muscles,
and a slight trace of archaic restraint in the
details, which, when con\pared with the more
slender figure of the British Museum, makes
it probable that the marble approaches nearer
the spirit of Myron's original than does the
fine and elegant bronze. The intentness and
concentration of movement on one side of
this Marsyas, and the expression of a passing
moment, seem to have characterized Myron's
works, as preserved to us in copies from
Roman times.
Myron's fame in antiquity was due more to his representations of animals
than of mythological beings. His bronze cow attracted more attention than
any other animal in the range of plastic art. 542 It was seen in Cicero's time on
the Pnyx at Athens, and long afterwards in the Temple of Peace at Rome. In
no less than thirty-six epigrams the ancient poets make her the subject of their
pleasantries. "A lion," they said, to use Goethe's summary of them, "sprang
upon her to tear her in pieces; tender calves sought her bronze udder; the
shepherd threw his halter about her neck to lead her to pasture ; some pelted
her with stones, or lashed her with a whip ; others even whistled to her ; the
farmer brought his plough to yoke her in for work ; the gadfly settled on her
hide ; and even Myron himself was at a loss to distinguish her from the rest of
his herd." But, from all these epigrammatic sayings, we gain, unhappily, no
clear picture of the celebrated cow to aid us in recognizing a copy among exist
ing monuments.
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig 138. Marsyas, traeeable to an Original by
Myron, Latwan MuMBum. Rom;
MYRON'S DISCOBOLOS.
293
Four steers, by Myron, were taken by the rapacious Romans to their city,
where they long stood in the portico of Apollo*s temple on the Palatine. 543
Myron's pristcBy long thought to be some sea-monster, are now shown to mean
sawyers ; but how they were represented is unknown. 544
We gladly turn now to a class of statues for which we find illustration in
existing monuments. Like Pythagoras of Rhegion, Myron was famous for
numerous statues of athletes represented as engaged in their recreation, or
contending in the wild excitement of stadion or palcestra. Among the latter
was a celebrated bronze of one Ladas, who arrived at the goal before his fellow-
competitors in the foot-race, but soon died from the over-exertion, and was
buried on the banks of the Eurotas. Myron's statue represented him just at
the goal, and grasping for the wreath, while the last breath appeared to flit from
his half-opened lips ; and the ancients de-
clared that it seemed as though the statue
must leap from its pedestal to catch the
victor's prize. 545
Another statue by Myron represented
Timanthes, victor in the pancration at Olym-
pia. Of this man the story was told, that
he was daily in the habit of spanning a strong
bow. On one occasion, while on a journey,
he neglected his daily practice, and, on re-
turning home, found that he could no longer
accomplish his wonted feat. Filled with
chagrin, he built a fire, and, leaping into it,
perished in the flames. 546 Two statues by
Myron at Olympia were for one Lykinos, in
thanks for victory in the race. Another was
in honor of Philippos from Pallene, victor in
the boxing-game of the boys, and at Delphi
were, according to Pliny, pancratiastSy as well
as winners in Xht pentathlonM7
More important for us, however, was My-
ron's statue, the Discobolos, representing a
youth preparing to throw the disk. 548 Lucian saw it in Athens, and says
of it, " You speak of the discus-thrower, who bends, preparatory to the throw,
with the face turned towards the hand holding the disk, and with one leg
bent, as though he meant to rise again after the throw."548a This description
so well suits several extant statues, that there can be no doubt that they are
free copies of Myron's celebrated bronze original. 549 The best of these (Fig.
139) is in marble, and was discovered on the Esquiline in 178 1. It stood for-
merly in the Palazzo Massimi alle colonne, where it was jealously guarded from
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Fig. 139.
Dlaeoboloa, traceable to cun Original
by Myron. Rome.
294 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
the public. Its present owner, Prince Lancelotti, is equally miserly with this
famous and beautiful work; and, in consequence, it has been impossible to
obtain a proper illustration of it. The statue represents a youth preparing to
hurl to the utmost possible distance a metallic disk, which in nature weighed
about five pounds. The right arm is swung up with the heavy weight, while
the body balances gracefully on the right foot, planted firmly on the ground.
The left leg is drawn easily after it, as if the youth had just checked himself
in running, to master greater force for the swing ; and the head naturally fol-
lows the backward direction of the arm carrying the heavy weight. In another
moment, with the forward swing of the arm, the disk will fly from the hand,
and whiz away in the distance. This impetus to be given to the disk is shared by
the whole body, even to the toes, which press the ground as if to gain a firmer
hold. Thus the action of the whole statue is weighty, not only with the past,
but with the future. We realize the steps the youth has taken, and await
breathlessly for the next. This seizing the fleeting moment, so peculiar to
Greek art, is here done with consummate skill, giving the figure an ease and
naturalness which must be seen to be felt. The curve of the back, the skil-
ful and correct rendering of the muscles, their tension on one side and con-
traction on the other, produce most pleasing variety. The ribs and muscles
are marked off very decidedly, appearing, in fact, almost meagre. The lines of
the outstretched arm, though not in themselves beautiful, do not awaken criti-
cism, so thoroughly is our interest absorbed by the action they represent. The
functions of inner life are also not neglected. The statue seems fairly to
breathe. The chest dilates, the shoulders protrude, and the loins contract, pro-
ducing the effect we see in a wood-cutter's strong frame when he swings up-
ward his axe. The outer surface, thus made the mirror of inner surging life,
reveals a most striking contrast to the iEginetan marbles. In the stony forms
of the latter, we expect no expansion of the chest, or swelling of the muscles ;
but from this young athlete we await an explosive breath after his swing, and
expect to see his chest take its form at rest, while he stands watching his disk
fly over the ground. But Myron's statue, although lifelike, is not an exact
copy of an individual. It is rather a type of the whole class of athletes, whom
he continually saw in the gymnasiums or the games. He makes no attempt
to have his work deceptively like nature by reproducing every accidental detail
in skin, hair, and feature, like later masters who make us believe that we are
looking at flesh and blood, and not bronze or marble. In harmony with what
the ancients said of Myron, we find that he neglected the hair, which here falls
in short, stiff curls, decidedly archaic, and inferior to the well-developed form,
whose rhythm of motion we do not weary in admiring. The face, as Welcker
appositely says, is one of the short, oval Attic faces, whose chaste lines attract
the eye by " a severe beauty, like that of youth who have passed through the
discipline of the patcBstrUy' and are not effeminately luxurious in character or
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ATHLETE DROPPING OIL.
295
person. But any expression of the soul, such as interest or enthusiasm in the
game, is wanting ; the power of the face lying solely in the perfect cut of the
features.
Besides this Massimi Discobolos, there are several others, indicating the
celebrity of Myron's great original. Among these, a copy in the Vatican {Sala
della Bigd) is a free but admirable one. The head and left fore-arm were
restored by Thorwaldsen, who has, however, mis-
conceived the movement of the head, as appears
on following up the muscles of the chest into the
neck, as well as on comparison with the Massimi
statue, in which the head is antique, and corre-
sponds to Lucian*s description of the original. A
small bronze copy of Myron's Discobolos is among
the Munich antiques, and a fine marble is in the
British Museum. 55o
With the light thrown upon Myron's peculiari-
ties through the Marsyas and Discobolos, Brunn
has been able to associate with his school two
other statues, hitherto like waifs in the collections
of ancient works.55' One of these is a youthful
athlete, who stands quietly dropping oil into his
hand, preparatory to rubbing himself, as was cus-
tomary in connection with the games. A statue
of this type exists in Dresden, but one in Munich
seems to retain more of the originality of Myron's
semi-archaic style. According to this Munich
copy (Fig. 140), the athlete had the left hand open
in front of him ; but, by a meaningless restoration
of the right hand as extended far out (omitted in
the cut), the thought of the original is rendered
obscure. Let us rather imagine the right arm
raised, bent at the elbow, and holding in its hand
a vase, in the act of dropping oil into the left hand,
which should be partly closed, and held at such a point that the delicate opera-
tion of dropping just enough oil could be watched by the bended head. How
pleasingly simple, then, the motive of the composition, which seems to play
about a straight line dropped from the head through the half-opened hand to
the firmly planted left foot ! One side, as in the Discobolos and Marsyas, is
contracted. Thus, on the left side, the arm is held close to the body, the
muscles are drawn in, and the toes pressed firmly into the soil, the bend of the
head enhancing the effect. The right side is quite the opposite. All is easy
flow, from the raised arm to the gracefully bended leg at rest. In this statue.
Fiq. 140.
Athlete dropping Oil into
Hand. Hunich.
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296 ARCHAIC SCULPTURE.
as in the Marsyas and Discobolos, the action is concentrated in one single
moment of prime interest. The head gi this beautiful youth has that pleasant,
short Attic oval, and strong brow, seen in the Discobolos, and the same lack
of feeling or interest; the effect of the whole being mainly that of a sound
mind dwelling in a sound body. The shortness of this torso and the length of
the limbs giving the figure greater slenderness than most preserved figures
of the fifth century B.C., make it probable, moreover, that, like the Marsyas of
the British Museum, it is a late variation on the sturdier proportions of an
original of -Myron's time.
That beautiful standing athlete, in the Vatican, holding with one hand his
ready disk, and with the other feeling the gathering strength in the fingers
which shall hurl it, has been attributed by some to Alcamenes, and by others
to an Argive master, Naukydes. But Brunn finds in it the same peculiar
rhythm of parts, the one side strained and the other at rest, the same concen*
tration of the attention on one point, and, finally, the same build of head and
face, and pressure of the toes, as in the Discobolos, Marsyas, and Munich ath-
lete. Hence, with much reason, he classes it among the works to be referred
to Myron's influence. 55* Although all these creations can be only copies of the
originals, which have been clouded in their clearness, still through them we
are enabled to appreciate the high praise Myron received from the ancients.
The material used by this master was ^Eginetan bronze, which was doubtless
well adapted to the representation of the sinewy, sunburnt frame of the athlete,
and the muscular frame of the animal with all its pulsating life.
Judging from the statements of the ancients, in which praise of the varied
motion, and of the great physical life expressed, predominates, Myron was pre-
eminently the master who made the outward form reflect physical life in varied
and bold positions. 553
Thus, during the first half of this century, if we follow our literary sources,
Pythagoras seems to have perfected the surface and the rhythm of the statue,
Myron to have ventured upon boldest positions, the charm of the situation
taking possession of him, and Calamis to have combined the dawning of soul-
beauty in his works, with lines of severe grace. These sculptors, then, seem
to have released the form hitherto imprisoned in marble or bronze, but did not
succeed in fully satisfying the higher longing for ideal thoughts. That the
beautiful material form might receive its worthy occupant, it must needs look
to men possessed of still greater inspiration ; and these men were Pheidias and
his compeers.
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THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS;
OR,
PERFECTED GREEK SCULPTURE
DURING
THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.
FROM ABOUT 450 B.C. TO ABOUT 400 B.C.
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CHAPTER XVII.
PHEIDIAS AND HIS WORKS.
Pheidias' Youth. — Condition of Athens. — Pheidias* Teachers. — His Early Works. — Amazon. —
Statues of Athena. — Athena Promachos. — Olympic Zeus and its Sculptural Adornments. — Its
Poetic Thought. — Reflexes of this Work. — Otricoli Head, etc. — Pheidias under Pericles. — Art-
activity in Athens. — Change in the Times. — Athena Parthenos. — Its Vicissitudes. — Description
of the Statue. — Its Shield, etc. — Its Artistic Character. — Other Statues. — Copies. — Roman
Reports concerning Pheidias. — Other Works attributed to Pheidias. — His Fate.
The course of Greek art, as it has thus far been followed, brings us to the
threshold, as it were, of the highest sculptural achievements. As we enter
upon their contemplation, the master who leads the way is Pheidias, son of
Charm ides, an Athenian by birth, as he inscribed himself on his colossal
Zeus at Olympia.554 Numerous and able were his pupils and rivals, and yet
it is around his sublime genius that the memories of the Golden Age of Attic
art cluster.
Calculating from the events of his life, and the fact that he represented
himself as a bald old man on the shield of Athena Parthenos, it is supposed that
he was bom about 500 B.C., this making him a few years the senior of Sopho-
cles. When the word Marathon was sounding from the lips of every exulting
Athenian, he was probably a mere lad. During the years of his approaching
manhood, the vengeance of the Persians broke out afresh upon his native land.
The immense army of Xerxes crossed the Hellespont, and approached on the
north, while Persian galleys swarmed in Greek waters. Anguish and distress
accompanied their course : Athens became 'a waste ; and the Athenians were
fugitives on the neighboring shores, their homes and sacred places a prey to
the flames. The Persians again were driven back, but carried off many art-
treasures sacred to the Athenians. Such memories could not fail to leave
their impression on the young Pheidias. His pulse must have quickened with
feverish anxiety when the news came, that Greek soldiery had defended to
the death the Pass of Thermopylae ; and his soul must have glowed with
patriotic fervor as the shouts of victory rang through the streets after the
battles of Plataiai, Salamis, and Mycale. Old Athens was destroyed ; but, fired
with new life, she was to be made powerful and glorious for the future. Her
port, the Peiraieus, was laid out as became the centre of a great naval power ;
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300 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
and, although the private houses were hastily thrown together for the returning
fugitives, her public buildings were begun in a truly monumental spirit. With
the wisdom of a far-seeing statesman, Themistocles gave all strangers, at work
on Athenian buildings, immunity from taxation ; and artists of all kinds flocked
to the opened gates from various parts of Greece. Such, then, were the favor-
able circumstances under which Pheidias came to manhood. Moreover, he
belonged to an artistic family. But though his father, Charmides, seems to
have been an artist, the youth was put under the tutelage of Hegias. The
works of this sculptor are reported to have been stiff ; and we are not sur-
prised to learn, that the fame of a far greater man, Ageladas of Argos, early
attracted Pheidias, as it did Myron and Polycleitos. From this Argive master,
we may believe that the young Athenian sculptor learned principles of pro-
portion and correctness, which, grafted on his native Attic genius, were to
produce works of rare richness and perfection.
In the beginning of his career, Pheidias seems to have enjoyed the patron-
age of Kimon, Miltiades* great son, as appears from the subject of his first
work. This was an extensive bronze group of thirteen figures for Delphi,
commemorative of the battle of Marathon, and representing the victor, Mil-
tiades, among gods and mythic heroes. 555 Among other works ascribed to
Pheidias, which probably belonged to his youth, was a bronze Amazon, praised
for the beauty of neck and mouth. 55^ But it is a significant fact, that
Pheidias' Amazon lost the prize in competition with one by his great Argive
contemporary, Polycleitos, who is known to have excelled in representing
formal beauty. Through the different museums are scattered several types
of Amazons ; but it is impossible, in ignorance of the composition of Pheidias*
original, to trace to it any one of them with certainty ; although, owing to the
resemblance of the drapery of the Mattel Amazon in the Vatican to that of
some of the Parthenon marbles, it was once supposed to represent the class
which most nearly approaches the work by Pheidias. 556a
It was, probably, during this earlier part of his artistic career, that Pheidias
ekecuted three statues of the goddess Athena, of which the one completed
first was a gold and ivory statiie for Pellene in the Peloponnesos.557 For
Plataiai, the decisive battle-field of the Persian war, he executed a colossal
acrolith Athena in wood, with face, hands, and feet of Pentelic marble, and
drapery of gold.558 For this "warlike Athena," the Areia, as she was called,
with her temple, adorned by Polygnotos with paintings, the patriotic little city
expended no less than eighty talents (J 194,000), its share of the booty after
the battle. The third of these statues of Athena, like the one in Plataiai, was
commemorative of the victories over the Persians, and must have formed,
through all antiquity, one of the most prominent objects on the Athenian
Acropolis, as it towered up by the great temple of the goddess.559 It was
a bronze colossus, now often falsely called Promachos. Pausanias* poetical
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ZEUS BY PHEIDIAS. 301
description of it, as overlooking the blue waters of the sea, so that Athenian
sailors, off Cape Sunion, could see the point of Athena's lance and her crested
helm glistening in the sunlight, has been shown by Michaelis to be an exag-
geration ; and the supposed pedestal has been proved to belong to some other
monument.5^ Of the composition of this colossus, we have no means of
forming a definite idea ; the coins, bearing an effigy which might refer to it,
differing greatly. Sometimes the goddess on these has her shield raised high
on the left arm, and sometimes lowered to the ground, with the arm dropped.
The shield, being unfinished by Pheidias, was chiselled later with scenes from
the combats of the centaurs and Lapithae by Mys, after designs by Parrhasios,
the celebrated Ephesian painter. The only reference to this statue in later
times is that made by Zosimos, according to which, as late as 395 A.D., if the
usual reading of his text be correct, the figure still towered above the city,
striking terror into the hearts of the conquering Alaric and his hordes, s^i But
the celebrated colossus finally disappeared from sight in the black night which
settled upon Athens soon after the invasions of the Goths.
Pheidias* ripest powers were not, however, to be exercised first in Athens.
According to Loeschcke's satisfactory investigations, he was called to Elis,
about Olymp. 80, to erect in the new temple there a statue of the great Zeus.s^a
This new view of Pheidias' life, making the Zeus at Olympia precede his
Athena for the Parthenon at Athens, is shown to be in harmony with the
statements of Pausanias, and places the execution of the Zeus immediately
after the completion of its temple at Olympia, which we know from the
excavations was Olymp. 80. From this time Pheidias was probably engaged
at Olympia during three Olympiads, whereupon he returned to Athens; his
activity in his native city being attested to by the works he was there called
to execute : the date, Olymp. 83, after he had completed the Zeus, is, more-
over, given by Pliny as his prime. 5^3
To the quiet vale of Olympia, then, the master repaired soon after 460 B.C.,
accompanied by his kinsman (the painter Panainos), and some of his scholars.
Near the holy grove a workshop, seen afterwards by Pausanias, was built, and
in its centre an altar to the twelve great gods, invoked by the artists when
they commenced their various work. 564 The god to be represented was not
the ruler of a single state, but of all Greece, — the Olympian Zeus, "whose
power," as Homeric poetry says, "surpasses all the power of gods and men."
For its execution costly materials were placed at Pheidias* disposal, — gold,
ivory, silver, gems, bronze, and choice woods, — making the work most compli-
cated in its construction. A genius for grand composition was required for
conceiving the whole, an architect's skill in building up the colossal wooden
framework, the carver's subtle fancy and fingers to give form to the delicate
ivory, and a metal-worker's knowledge in dealing with the broad masses or
elaborate finish of the gold-work. The wooden frame was supported by in-
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302
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
serted iron stays, and incrusted with thin sheets of ivory, made pUable by
fire, and then modelled and fitted together with consummate skill ; the creamy
color and texture well representing the natural skin. 5^5 Appurtenances of dra-
pery, weapons and hair, were of massive gold, or of silver gilded, and the eyes of
lambent gems ; all these materials making up the fabric of the chryselephantine
colossi of the gods, which were the masterpieces of the Pheidian age, but were
seldom executed in the following century. Pheidias represented the god as
seated on an imposing throne, which rested on a low pedestal, measuring 6.50
by 9.50 meters, as the excavations have shown, and standing out some distance
from the rear of the cella.^^ The uncovered space in front of the statue, from
which it received light, was divided off by a. partition, extending part of the way
between the pillars, and may have been the portion of the work painted by
Panainos.567
The altis being damp, oil was used to prevent the decay of the wood and
_ ,^^_-_,^ ivory of the statue ; and the channels by which
oil and water were carried off have now been
discovered. But even with such precautions,
and the care with which the descendants of
Pheidias watched over the statue, about sixty
years after its completion cracks appeared in
the ivory, rendering repairs necessary, which
were made by Damophon of Messene. Still
later, two of its ponderous golden locks were
stolen. 568 In Caesar's time, the statue was
struck by lightning. Caligula, seized with a
desire to remove it to Rome, and to supplant
the head by a portrait of himself, was prevented
from carrying out his impious design, as was popularly believed, by miracles. 5^9
The workmen put hands to the statue to remove it ; but, according to Suetonius,
a tremendous peal of scornful laughter burst from its otherwise silent lips, and
put them to flight, fearful and trembling ; while, at the same time, a thunder-
bolt consumed the ship which was waiting to receive the sacred form. The
statue occupied its temple until the time of Theodosius II., about 408 A.D.,
when the celebration of the Olympic games ceased, and the temple fell a prey
to the flames. The statue, doubtless, either perished in that fire, or in the
devastations of the Goths, who shortly after swept over the Peloponnesos.
The most faithful representation of this Pheidian work is probably to be
found on a small coin of Hadrian's time (Fig. 141). According to the ancients,
the seated colossus towered up so that it awakened the feeling that for such a
god no temple made by man could suffice. 57© Peacefully enthroned, he held in
one hand the sceptre crowned with his eagle, and glittering with precious
metal. On the other hand, which rested on the arm of his seat, Nike appeared
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Fig. 141. Coin of Ella representing the Olym-
pic ZeuB by Pheidias.
THRONE OF ZEUS BY PHEIDIAS. 303
bearing a fillet {tcenia). If we may believe the testimony of coins, the older
Zeus of Olympia and Arcadia was also conceived as seated, but held in the
outstretched hand his eagle. In all probability, the significant idea of letting
the bringer of victory rest on the god's hand was a beautiful innovation made
by Pheidias on this older scheme. 57<» The nude parts of the master's great
Zeus were of fine ivory : a golden mantle fell over the left shoulder and arm,
and lay in folds over the legs. It was studded with lilies and small figures in
enamel. Sandals, likewise of gold, shod the feet : an olive-wreath, symbolical,
perhaps, of the Olympic prize, rested on the golden locks, as if to suggest the
thought, "With thee, our god, is the fulness of victory." The sceptre was not
menacingly raised, but held so as least to obstruct the view of the benignant
head.
Not the statue alone was sublime in form and thought : seat, footstool, and
pedestal were a world of art in themselves, and replete with sacred import to
the Greeks. The throne was massive in its build, as suited the immovable
seat of the great god: sculpture and painting beautified it with significant
forms. Spaces in front of the throne were colored blue, thus, it may be, set-
ting off the feet and golden drapery against a darker background ; while the
three sides, probably, of the partition around it, were adorned with paintings
by Panainos representing mythic scenes. On each side of the feet were four
single figures, illustrative of the different sacred games usual in Elis. One of
these figures had disappeared by Pausanias' time. One represented a Diadu-
menos, — a youth winding about his head a fillet of victory. This statue,
according to ancient report, purported to be that of the boy Pantarkes, said to
have been a favorite of Pheidias, and successful competitor in 432 B.C. But
there is every reason to believe that this was a late scandal. It is more likely,
that Pantarkes in reality lived at a much later date, and having chosen as the
motive for a statue of himself this Diadumenos, which he saw on the throne of
the great Zeus, nothing would have been easier for a gossip-loving age than
subsequently to bring the later and the earlier work together in time, and date
Pantarkes' statue from the age of Pheidias. 57»
Around the other sides of the seat were twenty-nine figures, representing
the mythic combats of the Greeks, under Heracles and Theseus, with the tur-
bulent Amazons ; besides, the goddess of victory, Nike, appeared repeatedly, to
pass on, as it were, the hymn of praise around the seat of the Almighty, and
corresponding, perhaps, in thought, to the angel-choirs about the God-Father in
Christian art. Higher up on the throne came reliefs representing Niobe's
family, — symbols of the punishment which follows pride. Sphinxes, each
holding a youth in her relentless grasp, supported the arms of the throne. Be-
sides such sculptures calculated to inspire fear, there were others indicating
the benignity of the god. His "welcome daughters," the "Three Hours," who,
in Homeric words, "bring to mortals the day of reward," as well ^S ^^APlKfp
304
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITO&
joyous Graces, crowned the back of the throne. The footstool supporting the
feet rested on lions, and was enriched with representations of the combat be-
tween Theseus and the Amazons. The whole rested on a low pedestal, which
discoveries show to have been of stone, incrusted with metal plates. On these
appeared the seventeen figures, seen by Pausanias, representing the birth of
Aphrodite, goddess of love, as she arose from the sea, and was welcomed by
the gods of Olympos. The chariot of Helios, the sun-god, at one end of the
composition, was seen emerging from the ocean, while Selene's car of the night
was descending into the deep at the opposite end. These are noteworthy;
since the same ideas were repeated in Pheidias' representation of Athena's
birth, in the sunrise pediment of the Parthenon.
How sublime seems this conception of the supreme deity of Greece, when
compared with older ideals of the god ! Judging from archaic sculptures and
vase-paintings, the character of Zeus had been expressed by putting in his
hands the winged lightnings, which should strike terror into the hearts of
offenders. But Pheidias seems to have caught a diviner spirit in his sacred
Homeric poet ; for, when asked what pattern he intended to follow, he quoted
that passage in which the Mighty One, complying with the pleading of a
mother for her son, is said to have given —
" The nod with his dark brows.
The ambrosial curls upon the sovereign one's immortal head
Were shaken, and with them the mighty Mount Olympos trembled." 57*
Thus Pheidias' conception of his god united that mildness which listens to
a mother's prayer, with the power which makes
the mighty dwelling of the immortals quake.
It is related that Pheidias, upon the completion
of the statue, humbly prayed the unseen Zeus
to grant some sign of his favorable recogni-
tion, when suddenly a thunderbolt flashed from
the high heaven through the open roof, and
struck the temple-floor. Antiquity marked the
spot by an urn placed in the pavement ; and
a curious rent still exists, recalling the mem-
orable story.
Gladly would we search the galleries of
existing sculptures, or ponder over coins, to
find a clearer reflex of this great Zeus. One beautiful Elis coin, from Hadri-
an's time, is thought to give the most faithful hint of the benignant head
(Fig. 142). 573 Here the hair rolls gently up from the forehead, and falls in easy,
quiet masses under a wreath. In the broad, serene brow, strong eyebrows, firm
but gentle mouth, power seems coupled with unspeakable mildness. Sculp-
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Fig. 142. Coin of Elis, ulth the Head of the
Olympic Zeus by Pheidiaa,
IMPOSING CHARACTEJl OF PHEIDIAS' ZEUS.
305
tures, however, that may suggest the Zeus of Pheidias, are marked by an
elaborate exaggeration, altogether unlike the simple truthfulness of the Par-
thenon marbles, those authentic works of the Pheidian school. In the latter
the outlines are quiet, the passages between the muscles gentle, and there is
nothing extreme in their treatment. On the other hand, the famous Roman
Otricoli head (Fig. I43),574 long considered the best copy of Pheidias' Zeus, is
painfully unquiet in detail, especially about forehead and eyebrows, where ex-
Fig. 14S. Head of Zeua found at Otricoli. Vatican.
cessive elevations and furrows altogether destroy the grand and simple effect
which characterizes the lifelike masses of the Parthenon marbles. The head
of Pheidias' statue, as belonging to that age when fullest, freest forms had not
yet been developed, must, we imagine, have had a certain severity about it ;
but such was its grandeur, that a host of ancient writers unite in its un-
bounded praise. One of these writes, " Pheidias alone has seen likenesses of the
gods, or he alone has made them visible ; " 575 another, " No one who has seen
Pheidias' Zeus can imagine any other semblance of the god." 57^ Still another
devoutly says, " To reveal his likeness to thee, Zeus came down to earth ; or
thou thyself, Pheidias, didst go to see the god." 577 He was considered an un-
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306 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
happy mortal who had never looked upon Pheidias' Zeus ; and Lucian, the fine-
art critic, was so impressed by it, that he wrote, " Those who enter the temple
no longer think that they see ivory from the Indus, or beaten gold from Thrace>
but the son of Cronos and Rhea, transferred to earth by Pheidias." 57^ Quin-
tilian declares, that "the Athena Parthenos and Olympian Zeus added new
power to the established faith, so nearly did the grandeur of the work equal the
divinity of the god." 579 Cicero says, " The great artist, when he was moulding
his Jupiter or Minerva, was not looking at any form for these deities of which
he might make a copy ; but there dwelt in his mind a certain kind of surpassing
beauty, the sight and intense contemplation of which directed his art and hand
to produce a similitude." 5^ Even Paulus iEmilius, the stern Roman soldier,
was overcome by its sight, when on his conquering march he came to Olym-
pia.58' He entered the temple glorying in the Capitoline Jupiter, whose earthly
dwelling was on one of the seven hills of Rome, but came out subdued, and
ordered richer sacrifices than were customary to be made to the god of the
conquered people, saying that " Pheidias alone had formed the Zeus of Homer."
More beautifully than all others did Dio Chrysostom express the devotion
awakened, saying, " Were any one so heavily burdened with cares, and afflicted
with sorrows, that even sweet sleep would not refresh him, standing before thy
statue he would, I firmly believe, forget all that was fearful and crushing in
life, so wondrously hast thou, O Pheidias ! conceived and completed thy work,
such heavenly light and grace is in thy art." 582
Having completed this great statue, the master must have returned to
Athens, where his powers were to be spent in the friendship and service of the
great Pericles. The old temples and many sacred semblances had perished in
the fires of the Persian invasion. Long years had elapsed ; and, though The-
mistocles and Kimon had commenced the work of restoration, many temples lay
still in ruins, and many vows remained unfulfilled. It was to rebuild and repeo-
ple these temples, that the powers of Pheidias were now called into play. But
for their full exercise was needed the patronage of a Pericles, guiding the helm
of state. As the Greeks had united against the barbarians, so Pericles be-
lieved that they should unitedly celebrate their triumph ; and he therefore sent
ambassadors — veterans from the Persian war — to invite delegates to Athens
for the purpose of deliberating upon the restoration of the national sanctuaries.
Jealousy of Athens causing the failure of this great scheme, Attica concen-
trated her energies upon rebuilding her own capital and wasted temples. The
wealth of the citizens was not to be devoted to private luxury, but to the pub-
lic weal, and the honoring of the gods. To the same objects was extensively
applied the Persian booty, — a treasure so great that the frugal Greeks mar-
velled how the Oriental monarch could have desired their barren, rugged land.
The silver-mines of Laurion, and especially the annual tribute from a thousand
Greek towns and cities, paid into the national treasury as a return for AiJiemajo^
GREAT ARTISTIC ACTIVITY IN ATHENS. 307
protection, constituted still other sources of revenue. This treasure, kept, up
to about 454 B.C., in Apollo's sanctuary on the quiet island of Delos, was then
removed to Athens, — a change which, it is thought, was brought about by Peri-
cles, one of whose favorite maxims it was, that Athens' political pre-eminence
depended upon abundant revenues. The city, now prosperous and wealthy,
must have been more than ever the centre of attraction to artists, for whose
works abundant material was provided. Costly woods and ivory were brought
from the far East. The imported Parian marble used by earlier sculptors was
now supplanted by a golden-toned, but cheaper sort, from the neighboring Pen-
telicos. In a few years there arose temples, theatres, and other public buildings,
with richly sculptured decorations, and sheltering statues of sacred import and
new beauty. Cape Sunion, the sailors' shrine, was graced with a temple to
Athena ; and its columns, some of which still stand, were visible far off at sea.
A theatre also adorned the sloping shores, where the people gathered to watch
competitive naval sports. In quiet Rhamnus, near Marathon, a new temple was
built to Nemesis. At Eleusis a costly one, capable of holding an immense
gathering, was completed. The Peiraieus, originally abounding in narrow,
crooked lanes, was rebuilt by the Ionian Hippodamos, its harbors greatly im-
proved, and a temple to Aphrodite erected on the shores. Athens itself was
beautified by buildings of world-wide fame, such as the Parthenon, the Erech-
theion, the Propylaia, the Gymnasion with its marble colonnades, and the spa-
cious Odeion for musical purposes. Immense treasure was spent upon these
costly edifices and their decoration. The golden drapery of one statue alone
weighed forty-four talents (fifty-three thousand dollars) : the Propylaia cost the
art-loving Athenians two thousand and twelve talents (two million dollars), or
twice the income of Attica a few decades later. Even had the marvels of
architecture and sculpture studding Attic soil utterly perished, these sums
alone would bear witness to the religious spirit and the munificence in art-mat«
ters of the Athenian state during this time of her glory. The brilliant pontifi^
cates of Leo X. and Julius II., when Raphael and Michel Angelo adorned Rome^
and artists flocked to the Eternal City, pale before these golden but fleetingf
years.
But the impulse which the intellectual and aesthetic spirit of the nation had
received made it impossible servilely to replace the ancient forms. The proud
triumphs over a well-nigh irresistible foe, and the close contact with the culture
of Ionia and other lands, had stimulated the Athenian people to a life which
could not turn quietly back into the old channels. Progressive ideas, although
looked upon with jealous, doubtful eye by the old and conservative party, the
warriors of Marathon, found favor in the city. The great Anaxagoras from
Ionia, Diogenes from Apollonia, and Hippodamos, philosopher as well as archi-
tect, with extreme views of ref6rm, were welcome guests in the houses of the
rich. The unquestioning spirit of the past was giving place to ^restlep
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308 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
inquiry ; and, while the masses still clung to the old dogmas, the leading minds
had risen above them, and caught glimpses of higher ethical truths. Pericles,
for one, shared in the change ; and, from the character of Pheidias* works, we
must believe that he also felt its influence : and although the sacred wooden
idol of Athena, a time-honored relic which had been worshipped for ages, could
not, indeed, be changed, other statues might be produced, which by nobler
forms, expressing higher ideals, should attune the souls of men to truer devo-
tion. All this artistic activity was guided, Plutarch tells us, by Pheidias, to
whose ruling genius men of celebrity, architects, sculptors, and painters, gladly
yielded. Moreover, to him was intrusted the highest mission which Attica
could offer : this was to erect a statue of the virgin goddess of Athens, Athena
Parthenos, to be set up in her new and glorious shrine, the Parthenon, raised
on the wasted site of an older temple. For this purpose, the same costly
materials — gold, ivory, silver, gems, and rare woods — used in the execution
of the Zeus were put at his disposal. The rich materials of this statue are
abundantly borne witness to by an inscription recently found on the Acrop-
olis.583
The statue of Athena was six times the height of a man, over 11.59 meters
(thirty-eight feet), and must have filled the beholder with an overpowering
sense of its presence, as it stood in the holy place (cella), which was less than
19.82 meters (sixty-five feet) high, and but little over 30.50 meters (one hunr
dred feet) long. The air of the Acropolis being dry, water was applied to
the statue to prevent shrinkage in the wooden framework, and consequent
displacement of the ivory incrustations. In 437 B.C. this golden colossus
stood complete in its sanctuary ; but, notwithstanding the precautions taken,
as early as 397 B.C. it needed to be repaired. 5^4 A few decades later (Olymp.
120, 297 B.C.) the statue was despoiled of its golden agis, and of all its mov-
able drapery, by the impious hand of the tyrant Lachares. Being obliged, how-
ever, to flee before his enemy, disguised as a peasant, he probably took away
only what he could carry about his person, leaving the bulk of his booty behind
him, since several centuries later Pausanias saw the statue still fully clad in
gold.585 In 375 A.D. it was still in Athens, and is reported — with little proba-
bility, however — to have been in Constantinople as late as the tenth century
A.D.586 Whatever its fate may have been, with its disappearance a priceless
treasure of art was lost ; and we ask, is there nothing which can bring before
us the form in which Pheidias represented the great goddess of his people }
With regret comes the answer, that only in a few feeble copies can we recog-
nize a correspondence to the descriptions of Pausanias, Pliny, and others. Of
these copies and variations on the great work, thirteen in statuary are scat-
tered through the museums of Athens, Rome, Turin, Madrid, and the Louvre ;
while still others are constantly coming to view. 5^7 One was recently discov-
ered at Pergamon ; but by far the most complete copy of the Athena by^Phei-i ^
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ATHENA PARTHENOS BY PHEIDIAS.
309
Flj. 144. Statuette of Athena Parthenos. Athene.
dias was brought to light during the reparation of a street in Athens in 1880
(Fig. 144). This marble statuette, found in what was doubtless the chapel
(sacrarium) of a private dwelling, may have been an object of worship to some
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3IO THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
pious Athenian of later days, who, for his family shrine, had the great original
by Pheidias copied. 588 This little figure, executed with all the punctilious fin-
ish characterizing statues of Roman times, is not a meter high (three feet) ;
and yet its proportions are precisely those of the great statue, as given by
Pausanias, and produce the impression of great size. Moreover, that it was
thus exactly reduced from that larger statue, and by mechanical means, is evi-
dent from the points {puntelli) on the back of the figure.
Connecting the appearance of this statuette with Pausanias' description of
the golden colossus, it appears that Pheidias represented the goddess as stand-
ing quietly erect, and wearing garments simple in form, and made of gold. A
long, flowing robe, the chiton^ dropped to the feet, and, where open on the right
side, was graceful in detail, though recalling the regular zigzag folds of earlier
art. The length of the chiton was broken by a shorter garment, the dipldidion^
falling over it, and girt at the waist. But these perpendicular folds, regular
hollows, sharply bent and under-cut edges, as well as loosely hanging bobs, are
so harsh in the statuette, that doubts may arise as to their beauty, even in the
drapery of the Pheidian original. It should be remembered, however, that that
was not in marble, but in metal ; and the malleable properties of gold would
lend themselves gracefully to a treatment which would be thoroughly harsh
and unpleasant when applied to unbending, ponderous stone. The effects of
gold bent at will into broad or small folds, and of ivory, laid over wood, shaped
easily by the turner's wheel, must have been altogether unlike those to which
marble consents. Hence, doubtless, the misleading and disappointing impres-
sion given by many copies of ancient statues. Besides, what would be beauti-
fully elaborate in these brilliant materials would offend in dull marble. The
mere money value of gold, and its sheen, may indeed suffice to satisfy a lower
taste ; but when its dazzling lights have been toned down, and its rich color
combined with beautiful form, then, whether in the tiny jewel or chrysele-
phantine colossus, it will meet the highest demands. It was, doubtless, not
the mere following of traditional custom, but to break these disturbing lights,
that the finish of a chryselephantine statue was so elaborate, the drapery enam-
^elled, necklace, ear-rings, and bracelets added, and all accessories, as helmet,
sceptre, or shield, covered with marks of the goldsmith's skill. Could we, then,
imagine the folds of this marble statuette as of gold, their surfaces broken by
smaller ones neutralizing the disturbing reflexes of the shining metal, and then
translate the whole into colossal forms to be viewed, not in the full blaze of the
sun, but in the mellowed temple-light falling from above, we should realize that
the grandeur of the drapery was worthy of the dignity of the goddess. How
imposing, moreover, must have been the effect of this style of drapery in large
proportions, may be inferred to-day from the colossal copy of the Parthenos
found at Pergamon, and now set up in the Berlin Museum on what seems its
ancient pedestal. Here there is a grandeur in the deep shadows and regular
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DETAILS OF THE ATHENA PARTHENOS. 311
lines of the drapery, as the light falls upon them, not to be met with in other
and smaller replicas.
The Athenian statuette reminds us also that Pheidias' colossal golden
Athena wore the cegis^ her ancient weapon, with its circling border of serpents ;
but it is no longer the enveloping armor of the warrior-goddess of old, falling
down her back well-nigh to her feet, and over her arms, as seen on black-figured
vases, or in archaic statues like the iEginetan Athena. Reduced in size, the
^gis is here simply a broad but graceful collar, falling over the bosom and
shoulders, and more becoming to the peace-bestowing character which Pheidias
5eems to have divined in his Attic deity. The Gorgon head in the centre of the
•(jBgis of the statuette has also felt the master's touch, giving it a place between
the repulsive creations of earlier times, as seen in the metope of Selinus (Fig.
Ill), and the beautiful faces of later times, such as the Rondanini Medusa, now
in Munich, Although the grinning jaws of the older Medusa are here closed,
and the disgusting tongue drawn in, yet the lips are still thick, and the nose
broad and flat. That terror which the earlier artist sought to inspire by exag-
geration amounting to caricature, is here expressed by the furrowed brow,
knitted eyebrows, and a homely, materialistic face, which, on the other hand,
is utterly void of the ideal and tragic conception given this Gorgon in later times.
Resting on the maidenly locks of Pheidias' Athena, appeared the close-
fitting, plumed Attic helmet, 1.45 meter (nearly five feet) high, its laps raised,
and crest so lofty, judging from the statuette, as to seem top-heavy, and even
awkward. But here also we must not forget the peculiar material, and the
position the helmet occupied raised so high above the eye of the beholder as
to be subject to the effects of perspective. A sphinx crouched on its summit,
forming a standard for its feathery crest, and having a sacred meaning, as Pau-
sanias tells us. On the sides of the helmet hovered winged Pegasi, emblemati-
cal, perhaps, of the wild power in nature tamed by Athena. Griffins seem to
have decorated the cheek-pieces of the helmet ; and across its visor, according
to Attic tetradrachms, appeared still other decoration ; sometimes these coins
have horses' heads, and as often owls. 589 Bracelets, which pleasantly enlivened
the creamy surface of the arm, clasped the wrist in graceful coils. Ear-rings
and necklace, doubtless, added their finish to the golden colossus ; for they
may be seen in copies on gems and coins, although wisely omitted in most
marble copies. Upon Athena's outstretched hand, as upon that of the mas-
ter's Zeus, a small figure, the winged goddess Nike, or Victory, appeared ; and
her position, as preserved in the statuette, shows the great thoughts which
Pheidias expressed, while holding to the traditional forms, in retaining the
attribute on the goddess's hand, and the column supporting it. As, in Phei-
dias' original, this Victory of gold was six feet high, and weighed more than
four hundred pounds, we can easily understand, with Lange, how diflScult it
would have been for the extended arm of the colossus to hold such a weight
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312 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
without a substantial support like the column, which was 5.15 meters in height
(nearly f 7 feet). Early coins, moreover, seem to show that such columns were
common under the extended arms of very ancient idols. In these earlier works,
the column or support gives the impression of an arbitrary addition ; while in
later art it is intimately associated with the figure, so as to seem an integral
part of the composition. Here, also, Pheidias takes a place midway between
the old and the new. Although retaining the traditional pillar as such, he has
so worked it into the composition, that without it the effect would be one-sided :
an unpleasant vacant space is thus filled at Athena's right hand. How Victory
with her golden wreath alighted on Athena's hand in Pheidias' golden colossus
has been much discussed, but this statuette solves the problem. Nike, the vic-
tory-bearer, could not bring triumph to the goddess, in whom dwells the ful-
ness of victory; nor yet does she turn her back to the divinity, but flies
obliquely towards the devout worshipper, whom, in imagination, we see at her
feet, awaiting his crown. Nike, thus bringing the reward, forms a beautiful
link between the great goddess looking off into infinity, all sufficient in herself,
and the dependent, suppliant mortal at her feet Athena's lance, which does
not appear in the marble statuette, as well as her massive shield, were lowered ;
the latter, according to recently discovered inscriptions, having been of silver,
gilded. Under it coiled her serpent, doubtless symbolical of the earth-bom
people of Athens finding protection at the feet of their goddess. Scenes tak-
ing place on the steep declivities of the Areopagus at Athens, and representing
combats between mythic Greek heroes and turbulent Amazons, those enemies
of law and order, decorated the outer surface of the shield. Among these, Phei-
dias, as Plutarch tells us, represented himself as a bald-headed old man, hurling
a stone ; and Pericles, in full armor, swinging a spear so as to conceal the mid-
dle of his face. 590 The shield of Pheidias was repeatedly copied in antiquity,
the best preserved imitation being a marble relief in the Elgin room (Fig. 145).
On its rudely executed surface we can make out the portraits of Pheidias and
Pericles, corresponding to this description. In earlier art we have seen that the
stereotyped decoration of shields was composed of concentric rows ; but here
the figures of warriors and Amazons are scattered about the Gorgon head in
the centre, as if in the confusion of battle. The inner side of the shield was
also adorned with significant relief, representing the combats of gods with
rebellious and heaven-daring giants, in which, according to myth, Athena bore
an important part, receiving from her father Zeus the glittering CBgis as her
reward. But how Pheidias conceived this composition on the shield against
which the serpent must have rested, we do not know. Still other mythic com-
bats between Greek heroes and wild centaurs adorned the high sandals worn
by the colossus, but which, of course, do not appear on the minute reproductions
preserved to us. Around the low pedestal was represented the creation of
Pandora, the Eve of the Greeks. She was formed, according to myth.
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ARTISTIC CHARACTER OF THE ATHENA PARTHENOS.
313
in the presence of twenty gods, out of moist clay, by Hephaistos, who gave
her a human voice, and the stature and face of the immortal goddesses. Aphro-
dite threw grace and loveliness about her head. Hermes gave her a modest
bearing and quiet spirit. The Hours and Graces girded her with a golden belt,
and decked her with flowers, making her a charm for gods and men. Athena
taught her skill of hand and cunning workmanship, — the traditional source of
the skill and taste of Athenian women. Of this scene and its figures, only
the rudest possible trace remains in a tiny marble copy of the Parthenos found
Ftg. 146. Copy of the Outside of the ShleJd of Athena Parthenoa. British Museum,
on the so-called Pnyx, and of which casts may be seen in nearly every museum :
it is possible that a part of this scene is also represented in the graceful figures
on the pedestal of the Pergamon colossus in Berlin.
The impression which we receive concerning the great original by Pheidias
is, that it must have combined richness of significant detail with a grand sim-
plicity, bordering on severity, in the composition. The massive breadth of the
shoulders, length of the torso, and narrowness of the hips, are in strong con-
trast to the lithe and swelling curves of later times, as seen, for instance, in the
Athena on the Great Pergamon Altar (Selections, Plate XV.). But the god-
dess does not, as in older figures, stand firmly on both feet ; for the left leg is
bent. This unfreighted leg is not, however, drawn easily back, iut simply to
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314 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
the side, assuming a pose difficult to maintain, as experiment will prove. More-
over, the poise of the trunk is not made to harmonize with this concentration of
weight on one leg ; the shoulders being on a level, instead of naturally follow-
ing the bend of the knee. Severity also appears in the pose of the head,
which, although not painfully erect, as in older works, does not bend, as in later
ones. In these archaic traits of his temple-statue, Pheidias seems still to have
been influenced by tradition. And yet, in its standing position, it seems an
advance on the seated pose of his Zeus. So great is the contrast of this
Athena to the dramatic, tempestuous compositions of the Parthenon pedi-
ments, that we are tempted to believe that the study for it was made at an
earlier period, — perhaps when the building of its temple was begun, about
447 B.C. The sculptural decoration of the pediments would naturally be
undertaken later, as the building advanced, when the master had grown into
that marvellous freedom evident in every line of the Parthenon groups. That,
however, so emphatically a religious work of art should have retained the old
traditional type, and have been represented as standing still in imposing quiet
while receiving the offerings and prayers of worshippers, seems most appro-
priate ; besides, its very size would have rendered excited motion out of place,
especially within the temple. But, in order fully to realize the master's wisdom
and taste, we must call to mind again the setting of imposing columns, by which
his colossus was immediately surrounded on three sides ; the incorrectness of
the old plans of the interior, which made the statue stand in a niche, having
been shown by Dorpfeld's admirable investigations (see p. 229). This arrange-
ment of the columns around the statue was thus richer than in the older tem-
ple at Olympia, where the rear row was omitted. As at Olympia, however, the
golden colossus was set out some distance into the enclosure ; the pedestal hav-
ing been 4.17 meters in front of the rear colonnade, but approaching nearer the
columns at the side. The statue, lighted by the opening in the roof, stood re-
splendent with color, and abounding in costly decorations : we would fain recall
its surfaces in agreeable contrast to the darker, deep-red background, and
its gently varying outlines, set off by the regular fluted forms of the columns
occurring at intervals about it. Directly in front of this beautifully placed
image of the goddess was, as at Olympia, a space partitioned ofif, where, in all
probability, stood the altar for sacrifice.
In Pheidias' conception of the goddess, we have a worthy exemplification of
the artistic tendencies of his sublime age. Athena is no longer the fierce war-
rior of olden times, brandishing her lance, or raising her shield, as on archaic
vases and reliefs ; but she W'^sses her people in peace. The barbarian being
vanquished, her implements oi war are lowered. Victory flies from her hand,
freighted with good things ; and the serpent, symbolical of the people, finds
shelter at her feet. The whole statue, even to the remotest details, seems to
sound a hymn of praise to the Athenian deity for the triumph of right over
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ATHENA STATUES BY PHEIDIAS. 315
wrong. From this time on, we find that Pheidias' supremely humane concep-
tion of his goddess supplanted the older, more vengeful one : Attic reliefs, after
his time, always represent the goddess in an attitude of peace, following the
lines of his colossus. 59"
Seven times, we learn, did Pheidias, during his long career, represent the
great goddess Athena, — twice in statues of gold and ivory; once for Athens
in the statue just described ; once in earlier days, for Pellene (p. 300) ; and
three times in bronze. These latter were the Promachos of his youth; the
Athena on the Acropolis, for the people of Lemnos, probably executed about
the time of the Parthenos ; and one taken to Rome by Paulus iEmilius, and
consecrated in the Temple of Fortuna.59a Pheidias* other statues of the god-
dess were the acrolith of wood, marble, and gold, for Plataiai, above described,
besides a statue in rivalry with Alcamenes, as to the material of which we
are not informed. 593 It is said that the Athenians, wishing to erect two
statues of Athena in a high place, ordered them of Pheidias and Alcamenes.
Upon their completion, the people at first united in giving the preference to
that by Alcamenes, disapproving of the widely opened lips and distended nos-
trils of Pheidias' work. But when the statues were raised above the level of
the eye, upon their pedestals, opinion suddenly changed in favor of Pheidias'
Athena, which now appeared more correct than that of his rival, — an impres-
sion due, no doubt, to a regard for the laws of perspective and optical effect.
It would be a delightful task to trace with assurance these great originals
in the different types of Athena found in our museums. Of the large Athena
statues, many are marked by such dignity, combined with maiden-like grace,
that it would seem as though Pheidias' great originals had left their abiding
impress on the works of his successors. Of existing Athena statues, none is
more majestic than a colossal statue in Pentelic marble, now in the ficole des
Beaux Arts at Paris, but originally among the marbles in the Villa Medici in
Rome, and, consequently, popularly called the Minerva Medici (Selections,
Plate II.). Here we see massive shoulders and a firm build, like that of the
Parthenos ; here the same arrangement of the (egis; while the drapery differs,
being richer in certain details as it falls over the bent right leg. Unfortu-
nately, the head and both arms are wanting ; but the quiet attitude, the grand
and simple lines of the form, and exquisite rendering of the drapery, as well
as its undulating border, mark it as a great Greek original of the Pheidian age,
very near of kin to the Parthenon marbles. The contrast between the drapery
of this great figure, combining strength with grace, and the more pictorial
and lax character of Philis' garments, represented in the same plate, is wefl
brought out by such juxtaposition, and beautifully shows how different the
methods pursued in statuary and in relief, in widely separated parts of the
ancient world.
Futile were the endeavor to trace back to Pheidias' varied originals, as we
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3l6 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
are tempted to do, many of the later statues, such as the Minerva Giustiniani
in the Vatican, executed in Roman times, when the style and spirit of art were
diametrically opposed to the severe and unpretending simplicity and grace of
the Pheidian age in Athens.
Of the goddess Aphrodite, Pheidias executed three statues. One, an
Aphrodite Urania, in gold and ivory, was in Elis, and rested her foot on a turtle,
the symbol of woman's domestic seclusion. 594 Of the two others, we only
know that an Aphrodite Urania, in Parian marble, stood in Athens, not far from
the Kerameicos; and that another, in marble, said to have been of great
beauty, was taken to Rome. 595 Of the gods besides Zeus, Pheidias is known
to have represented Apollo in a bronze, as the warder-ofif of locusts {Pamopios)^
which was on the Acropolis ; as well as a Hermes in marble, at the entrance of
a temple in Thebes, and, consequently, called Pronaos.596
These creations of Pheidias, with the exception of the Miltiades of the
Delphic group, all of them belong to the realms of religion and myth. One
statue of a priestess with a temple-key {cleiduchos), and one of a bronze athlete
(not Pantarkes) at Olympia, putting on the fillet of victory, are the only sub-
jects we know of from a sphere nearer life. 597
In Roman times many other works were attributed to him, just as at present
pictures are fictitiously ascribed to such masters as Raphael, Titian, Michel
Angelo, or Correggio. Among the works thus falsely ascribed to Pheidias,
is one of the Horse-tamers, on the Monte Cavallo in Rome, from Constan-
tine's time, or even later, but bearing on its pedestal the inscription, Opus
PhidicB. Its general character, and the style of the armor, mark it as a Roman
work, based, doubtless, on some Greek original 598
Pheidias, like other ancient masters, is reputed to have been skilful also
in enchasing works of minute size, among which are mentioned, but with
how much truth is uncertain, a bee and a fly. Pliny ascribes to him skill in
painting. 599 The great variety of Pheidias' subjects and technique must Wd to
an exalted opinion of the versatility of his powers. Thus, a master in minia-
ture chasing, he also executed colossal chryselephantine statues, in themselves
architectural achievements: he cast in bronze, carved in marble, and worked in
wood, ivory, and gold The latter materials seem to have been his preference,
as better adapted to express his subjects, which were not the skilled athletes
of Myron and Pythagoras, nor the fleet steeds, and forms of delicate feminine
grace, in which Calamis excelled. His themes were, as we have seen, the gods
themselves, and these not the minor gentler deities of Olympos, but Zeus and
Athena, the sublimest ideals of the Greek religion. He placed in the temples
of the Greeks higher conceptions of their supreme gods than had ever before
met the gaze of the devout, being thus an ideal sculptor in the loftiest sense. ^«*
But Pheidias must only too soon have suffered the penalty of his friendship
to Pericles, whose enemies were gaining in power. Immediately upon the dedi-
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PHEIDIAS' END. 317
cation of his great Parthenos, 438 B.C., scandalous reports were spread about
his private life. Menon, one of his assistants, placed himself in the market-
place, and with olive-branch in hand, as was customary in bringing charges
against those in power, begged for protection while inveighing against his mas-
ter. This being granted by the fickle people, he charged Pheidias with having
appropriated to his private use some of the gold intrusted to him for the dra-
pery of his statue, the Athena Parthenos. Fortunately, this had been so con-
structed, in accordance with Pericles' advice, that it could be removed and
weighed. 6«» This being done, the gold was found intact, and Pheidias* inno-
cence proved. But this was not sufficient : it had been discovered, that, on the
goddess's shield, Pheidias had dared to portray himself and Pericles. Even the
influence of the latter could no longer save the master from the charges of
blasphemy which were now brought against him. The people demanded his
arrest, as of one dangerous to the state ; and Pheidias, who had done, perhaps,
more for the glory of Athens than any other citizen, was led as a criminal to
prison, while his lying enemy, Menon, received distinction and favor. It is
said, that, before the completion of the trial, Pheidias breathed his last within
those dungeon-walls, the victim either of grief and age, or of poison. Another
story, that he fled from Athens to Elis, and there executed the statue of Zeus,
but, suffering similar charges, was finally put to death, has been shown, by
Loeschke and Curtius, to be utterly without foundation, and to have arisen
from a confusion of facts.^oo^ There can be no doubt, then, that towards the
close of the century, when party strife and bitter contention filled Athens and
threatened the land, Pheidias fell before the political enemies of his great
friend and patron Pericles. But, in spite of his country's ingratitude, later
ages have done him the honor which was his due ; holding, that had Greece
produced but one great man, and that Pheidias, it would have fulfilled a worthy
mission : and the preservation of his last great creation, the Parthenon marbles,
and the reverential honor they receive, seem just, although tardy, amends for
his bitter and undeserved fate.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
SCHOLARS AND CONTEMPORARIES OF PHEIDIAS AND OF MYRON.
Agoracritos. — Colotes. — Theocosmos. — Thrasjrmedcs, — Alcamenes. — His Works. — Other Sculp-
tors.— Lykios. — Myronic Statues. — Cresilas. — Statues of Amazons. — Portrait of Pericles. —
Strongylion. — Callimachos. — Demetrios. — His Characteristics. — Other Artists.
Around Pheidias a few men seem to have clustered as his scholars, among
whom Agoracritos of Paros is called his favorite. As the story goes, this par-
tiality for the Parian youth was so great, that the master often gave finishing
touches to statues from his hand, and even presented Agoracritos with statues
upon which the scholar was allowed to inscribe Pheidias' name, to the great
perplexity of all later critics.^"
Agoracritos executed statues of Zeus and Athena in bronze, for a temple at
Coroneia in Boeotia : this Zeus, called Hades by Strabo, was possibly k varia-
tion on Pheidias' Olympic Zeus.^^ But his most famous work was a Nemesis
in marble at Rhamnus, the fragments of which show, that it was a dignified,
quiet statue, 4.57 meters (fifteen feet) high, its pose suitable for an object of
worship. ^3 The goddess wore a crown of equal height all around, on which
were represented goddesses of victory, and deers, in relief. In one hand she
carried an apple-branch, and in the other z^patera^ probably to receive libations.
The base was richly decorated with mythic scenes, one of which conceived
Nemesis as mother of Helen, giving her child into Leda's charge. According
to one story, the statue was originally an Aphrodite Urania, executed in rivalry
with Alcamenes, but, losing the prize, was changed to a Nemesis.^4
Colotes, also a native of Paros, and a reputed pupil of one Pasiteles, is said
to have been intimately associated with Pheidias in the execution of the Olympic
Zeus. ^5 In Elis stood a statue attributed to Colotes, representing Athena in
gold and ivory, and having a shield painted by Panainos : another authority
calls it the work of Pheidias. 6<^ This connection of Colotes' name with that
of Pheidias clearly intimates a relationship between the two men. An Ascle-
pios by Colotes, in Elis, likewise in gold and ivory, is greatly praised by
Strabo.^7 In the Temple of Zeus, at Olympia, stood a costly table of gold
and ivory by this master, on which were laid the wreaths for the competitors
in the games. ^^^ On it were represented many of the great gods, besides
318 Digitized by V^jOOQIC
PHEIDIAS' ASSOCIATES. 319
scenes referring to the games, and others which, owing to obscurity in Pausa-
nias' text, cannot be determined. In this use of gold and ivory, Colotes resem-
bles Pheidias; but Pliny tells us that he also executed in bronze figures of
philosophers.^
Theocosmos of Megara, near Athens, we are informed, commenced for his
native city a chryselephantine Zeus, in which he was aided by Pheidias.^'® The
breaking out of the Peloponnesian war, however, prevented the completion of
the statue, which Pausanias saw centuries after in a still unfinished state. The
face was of costly material ; but the remainder was hastily put together with
clay and plaster, an interesting evidence that plaster was used as early as the
Pheidian age. Theocosmos* throned Zeus seems to have resembled Pheidias'
Olympian Zeus in having on the back of the throne two groups of three god-
desses each, in this case the Hours and Fates. The momentous naval victory
won by the Spartans over the Athenians at Aigospotamoi in 405 B.C., gave
rise to Theocosmos' second known work. The conquerors ordered an extensive
votive gift in bronze for Delphi. Among its numerous statues, mostly by mas-
ters of the Argive school, was a portrait-statue by Theocosmos
of Hermon, the helmsman of the ship on which rode during the
battle the victorious Spartan commander, Lysander.^"
Thrasymedes of Paros was also reckoned among those who
came under Pheidias' influence. Later ages ascribed one of his
works to the great master. This was the statue in gold and ^'^' '^ ^^ ^f
iptdauroa, with
ivory of the bearded Asclepios at Epidauros, reputed to have /„age of Ateie-
been the birthplace of this god of cures, and the most celebrated pioa, probably by
heahng shnne in all Greece.^" This statue, half the size of
Pheidias' Zeus at Olympia, was enthroned, and rested one hand on the head
of the snake, Asclepios' symbol of ever-renewing youth ; while the other hand
held his staff. A dog, the companion of Asclepios' childhood, had a place here
also ; and the seat was richly decorated with reliefs, representing the deeds of
the Argive heroes, — Bellerophoron combating the Chimaera, and Perseus be-
heading the Gorgon. Thrasymedes' costly colossus was once thought to be
reflected in coins found at Epidauros (Fig. 146).^'" Aside from a general
resemblance in composition to the Pheidian Zeus, these coins are interesting
because of the figure of a dog lying under the throne, — a motive which, in later
times, seems to have been introduced into such works as the seated statue of
the Torlonia collection, to be discussed later.
But the master who has long enjoyed the reputation of being Pheidias' most
important pupil is Alcamenes, by some called also his rival. He worked in
gold, ivory, bronze, and marble ; thus showing his wide range of material, and
an ideal tendency, apparently, similar to that of his great senior, Pheidias.
Alcamenes' recorded works were statues of gods and heroes, with the single
exception of one athlete.
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320 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Aphrodite he represented twice. The more celebrated of these two, and,
indeed, the most so of all his works, was the marble statue of this goddess,
as Urania, for a garden outside of Athens, and hence called ^ Ki/irois. Great
praise is bestowed upon the modelling of the cheeks, the graceful outline of the
face, the rhythm of the wrists, and the hand with its delicate fingers. From
the name, Urania, we may believe that Aphrodite was here conceived as fully
draped. 6'3 There exists one beautiful draped figure in our museums which is
found so frequently repeated that there can be no doubt its original was most
celebrated. In style, moreover, it is so contained, and yet so coy, resembling in
many respects the Parthenon marbles, that the original, no doubt, was created
in the Pheidian age; and we may, perhaps, venture to connect it with the
celebrated draped Aphrodite of the Garden, with exquisite fingers and gently
modelled face by Alcamenes. The best-preserved replica of this subject, in
which the head has been untampered with, is in the Louvre ; while a graceful
terra-cotta, recently discovered at Myrina, in Asia Minor, repeats the same
motive, and has, besides, in the left hand, the missing symbol, — an apple or
pomegranate.6'4 The goddess here stands before us wearing a transparent
chiton ungirded, and draws upward her veil with her right hand, — a motive,
as we have seen, met with in the Olympia pedimental figures. On Roman
coins, where this statue appears, it is called Venus Genetrix, clearly an adap-
tation of an old Greek Aphrodite ; and by this name this beautiful statue has
unfortunately come to be best known. But, fully to realize its beauty, we
must look more closely at the grand features as they are preserved to us in a
head in Parian marble, now in the Berlin Museum (Plate II.). . It was purchased
in 1873 in Rome, where it must have been originally introduced from Greece:
it is clearly the work of a Greek chisel of the best age, and in its type is iden-
tical with the head of the Myrina terra-cotta and the Louvre statue. In its
presence, with an Exquisite freshness, spared from the restorer's touch, one
feels the rare qualities of highest Attic art. The gentle, subtle life, wreathing
Jips and cheeks; the soulful look about eyes and brow, — are met nowhere else
in such perfection. The plate gives us a dawning of this beaming life, and
shows us the exquisite round oval, the beautifully but closely waving hair, and
the dignity of a face full of strength and vigor, yet graced with every gentle,
womanly charm. We imagine its possessor as loving and being loved with an
intense and unwavering devotion. The head-dress in which the flowing locks
behind are closely gathered, the clear cut of the forehead, the strong but grace-
ful chin, and slight bend of the head, combined with the chaste maidenly ex-
pression, are familiar to us from the heads of the maidens in the frieze of the
Parthenon, and show what must have been the grandeur of the statues of that
day. If Alcamenes indeed created the original of this beautiful statue, it indi-
cates a great advance upon his sculptures at Olympia, described on p. 266, and
must have been the work of his ripest years. That the masters of this age
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ALCAMENES' WORKS. 32 1
did progress thus rapidly seems proven by Paionios' case, between whose tem-
ple sculptures and flying Nike there is so great a gap.
Athena was represented by Alcajnenes in a statue already described, in
rivalry with Pheidias ; Alcamenes losing the prize, it is said, on account of his
deficient knowledge of the laws of optical effect.^>5 The weird and spectral
Hecate he appears to have represented in an original manner, in a shrine which
stood near the Temple of Nike Apteros, on the Acropolis.^'^ Hecate's realm
was triple, — heaven, earth, and sea: to her the traveller prayed, and to her
the gates were sacred. Roadside chapels were erected to her; and in her
honor monthly offerings of food were placed at all street-crossings and in pub-
lic squares, to be consumed by the poor. She was thought to come through
the silent, moonlit street, where she was greeted by the dismal baying of dogs,
her sacred animals. This goddess Alcamenes represented in triple form, thus
establishing the artistic tradition which has been distinctly transmitted to us
in many bronzes and statuettes representing three figures around a pillar. In
the limping smith-god, Hephaistos, from his hand, in Athens, he was said to
have rendered the infirmity, without, however, detracting any thing from the
dignity, of the god.^^7 An Ares, by Alcamenes, stood in the temple of that
god m Athens ; a Dionysos of gold and ivory in the god's ancient shrine, near
an Athenian theatre ; and an Asclepios by him adorned a temple in Mantineia
in the Peloponnesos.^**
His last reputed work (referred to on p. 271) associates him with the triumph
of the Athenians over the Thirty Tyrants 403 B.C. But, if he was one of the
sculptors engaged in the execution of the Olympia marbles, his age would have
been so great at this time as to cast doubt on his authorship of this group,
and render it possible that it was by another Alcamenes, perhaps his son. As
the success of the Athenians had been greatly due to the aid of Thebes, they
resolved to erect votive statues, both to Artie and Theban gods. The master,
according to tradition, was therefore commissioned to execute a group for one
of the Theban temples. This he did in statues, probably in Pentelic marble, of
the Theban hero, Heracles, associated with Athena, which stood for centuries
in the Temple of Heracles at Thebes.
Of his bronze athlete, with the name Encrinomenos (most excellent), we
only know that it represented a combatant in the fie/tiatAlou.^^9 So vaguely are
Alcamenes' ideals described to us, that it would be futile to attempt to trace
back to them any other existing works : but it is interesting to notice, that like
his fellow-scholars, Colotes and Thrasymedes, he represented Asclepios, and
now assisted in spreading ripened Attic art to other parts of Greece ; that is,
to the Peloponnesos and Boeotia.
Besides these few associates of Pheidias, Athens h^bored at this time the
pupils of still other sculptors. The quaint but graceful Calamis had a scholar t
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322 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Praxias, who began architectural sculptures for the pediment of the temple at
Delphi ; but, death interrupting his labors, the work was completed by another
Athenian, Androsthenes. In the front pediment were represented Apollo, his
mother Leto, sister Artemis, and the Muses : in the other appeared Helios as
the setting sun, and Dionysos with the Thyads.^®
Of still other sculptors in Athens, some are thought to have followed
Myron: others cannot be assigned to any school. Among Myron's follow-
ers are reckoned masters who, like him, did not give expression to the loftiest
ideals, but found their field of activity in humbler realms. Only one is men-
tioned as his direct scholar, — his own son, Lykios, who, like his father, worked
in bronze. For ApoUonia, Lykios executed an extensive bronze group of thir-
teen figures, a thank-offering for the conquest of Thronion in Epeiros : accom-
panied by a dedicatory inscription, this group stood on a semicircular base in
the open air at Olympia, near the Temple of Hippodameia.^^* The scene, like
that of Onatas' group (p. 239), was from epic story. Here Achilles and
Memnon prepared for conflict, accompanied each by his country's heroes, —
Achilles by Odysseus, Menelaos, Diomedes, and Ajax, over against the bar-
barians Memnon, Helenos, Alexandros, iEneas, and Derphobos. In the centre
was Zeus, whose aid was being sought by Thetis, the mother of Achilles, on
one side, and by Hemera, the mother, of Memnon, on the other. Whatever
details the sculptor may have introduced, we see that his composition was a
strictly symmetrical one, which, in its semicircular arrangement, reminds us of
the neighboring group by Onatas.
To two other works by Lykios far greater importance is attached, both by
Pliny and Pausanias.^^^ These were two statues of boys engaged in the
temple service. One of them, in bronze, with the basin for holy water, stood
at the entrance to the Temple of Artemis Brauronia on the Acropolis at
Athens. A part of the ritual of the Greek temple consisted in the frequent
use of consecrated water, a basin of which stood at the entrance to every holy
place. With it the priest sprinkled the altar and worshippers. It is possible
that Lykios' boy formed the pedestal of such a vessel, into which was dipped
the firebrand from the altar, or the laurel-branch, for purification ; and the sub-
ject is of interest as being apparently taken from life, and used as decoration
in a temple. As such it would naturally be less subservient to worship than
actual votive offerings, and may mark one of those steps which should lead
eventually to the thorough emancipation of ancient art in some branches from
the service of religion, and in so far bring it nearer to modern genre. Of a
similar character seems to have been Lykios' second statue, a boy blowing up
a fire for incense, and described as worthy of his father, Myron.6*3 The use
of incense, no less than holy water, was a part of the Greek ritual ; and hence
it is possible that this figure likewise was decorative, standing before the
statue of the god, or at the entrance to the temple. Myron had expressed
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MYRON'S SCHOOL. 323
intense physical life and strong breathing in his exhausted runner Ladas, and
his Discobolos ; and Lykios' boy blowing the embers seems a happy continua-
ation of the father's tendency. The only athlete recorded as from Lykios*
hands, is that of the pancratiast Autolycos, who, according to Xenophon, was
a model Attic youth: of Lykios' other works, called indefinitely Argonauts
by Pliny, we'are left in ignorance. **4
Styppax, a native of Cyprus, has been associated with Myron, on account
of a statue by him in Athens, similar in subject to Lykios' boy blowing the
embers. Styppax's statue (Splanchnqptes) was probably of a youth blowing
with full cheeks a fire where the entrails of the sacrificial beast were roast-
ing. This statue was dedicated to Athena, by Pericles, in commemoration of a
miraculous cure wrought upon a favorite slave. ^*5 During the building of the
Propylaia this slave, the most efficient of the workmen, while engaged about
his work, fell from the lofty building, and was so seriously injured that phy-
sicians declared his case to be hopeless. The goddess, however, appeared in
a dream to Pericles, and directed him to use an herb growing on the Acropo-
lis. Upon its application the beloved slave rapidly recovered ; and, in thanks,
Pericles caused a bronze statue of Athena Hygieia to be put up on the Acrop-
olis by one Pyrrhos, and, by Styppax, a statue of the slave. The pedestal of
the Athena, with the dedicatory inscription, is still to be seen ; but the site
where Styppax's statue stood is unknown.^^^
In spirit like these youths of the Myronic school seems to be the cele-
brated bronze boy of the Capitol, pulling out a thorn from his foot. He is
greatly absorbed in the action ; and his meagre, lean form shows quaint traits,
which, even though it be admitted that they are only an imitation, in all
probability mirror to us the pleasing spirit and the abilities of this school. ^^7
Another foreigner, Cresilas, from Kydonia in Crete, was active in Athens
during the age of Pericles. His name is preserved to us in an inscription
found on the Acropolis at Athens. ^^^ An epigram speaks of him, and several
of his works are fully described. Among these was a Doryphoros, or athlete
carrying a spear ; an Amazon executed in rivalry with Pheidias, Polycleitos, and
others ; a portrait of Pericles ; another of the Attic general Diltrephes, conse-
crated by his son on the Acropolis at Athens ; and, finally, a wounded, dying
man, by some thought to be the Diltrephes in whose statue, as Pliny blindly
says, "one could see how much life was still in him." 629 Attempts have been
made to trace back frequently recurring statues of wounded Amazons to Cre-
silas' original; but, as types of this subject are numerous, it is doubtful whether
any one of them can with certainty be ascribed to him. We may notice, how-
ever, that in the extant replicas of wounded Amazons, although the blood is
trickling from the gash, and there is, in face and pose, a certain sternness and
gloomy earnestness, still no shade of overwhelming sorrow, or quick pain
quivering through the body, is to be read in the faces; and the forms have
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THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
the massive, strong build given in this century to the female as well as the
male shape. The portrait of Pericles, by Cresilas, may have stood on the
Acropolis, where Pausanias saw a statue of the statesman. A weighty task it
must have been to represent worthily this man who had won the first, place
among the gifted Athenians ; but so well did Cresilas accomplish it, that his
portrait was said to be worthy to be called Olympian, as Pericles "himself was
styled; in it, as Pliny says, "it might be seen how noble men were made
nobler." Three helmeted busts in London, Rome, and Munich, it is thought
may have been derived from this celebrated original. 630 The one in the Brit
ish Museum was found inscribed with
the statesman's name in the ruins of
Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, and, with
the one in the Vatican (Fig. 147),
seems best to render the reserved
and earnest character of the Athe-
nian leader. It is not, like portraits
of a later day, an accurate reproduc-
tion of individual peculiarities. The
likeness is generalized ; we see it only
as through a veil of ideality : the hair
and beard, in keeping with the treat-
ment of the face, are formally ren-
dered. The lack of any thing Olym-
pian about it may be due to the failure
of the copyist to preserve the grandeur
of the original. Pericles' head, owing
to its shape, became the butt of many
a joke on the Athenian comic stage,
where he was called the " onion -
headed." Plutarch tells the story,
that, on account of this peculiarity, Pericles refused to allow his portrait to
be taken without a helmet ; but comparison with heads of other ancient gene-
rals, which are often helmeted, shows that the helmet is here simply a sign of
office.
The name of another artist, Strongylion, is associated with representations
of animals which were very famous. Shortly before 415 B.C. (Olymp. 91. 2), a
colossal bronze steed, from his hand, was placed on the Acropolis at Athens,
a votive offering from an Attic citizen.^3' The size and novelty of the subject —
the Trojan horse, out of which peered the Greek heroes — made it town-talk,
and it figures m Aristophanes' "Birds;" but to-day the pedestal, 3.35 meters
(eleven feet) long, bearing the dedicatory inscription and Strongylion's name,
is all that is left. In Megara was to be seen a statue of Artemis Soteira, from
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Fig. 147, PortraH of RtrMos, Vatlom,
OTHER ATTIC SCULPTORS. 325
•
Strongylion's hand, very like one in Pagai, as Pausanias tells us.^32 Coins of
this latter city show us, probably, a reflex of this image : here, though an
object of worship, Artemis does not stand quietly to receive adoration, but
seems to be running rapidly. Three Muses by this master, on Mount Helicon,
were grouped with three by Olympiosthenes, and three by Kephisodotos, the
father of Praxiteles. ^33 Of an Amazon by Strongylion, we only know that it
was famous on account of the beauty of its thighs, being called Eucnemon ;
and that Nero was reported to have taken the statue with him on journeys. ^34
For another statue of a young boy by Strongylion, Brutus, who fell at Philippi,
was said to have conceived a violent passion, which caused it to receive the
name of Philippiensis.^35 In view of Pausanias* praise of Strongylion's steers
and horses, and the emphasized beauty of his physical forms, the theory is
entertained by Brunn, that he shared the Myronic tendency in Attic art^36
Callimachos, the reputed inventor of the Corinthian column, is not distinctly
stated to have been an Athenian ; but his golden lamp in the Erechtheion, with
undying flame, although filled but once a year, indicates his intimate relation-
ship with Athens. ^37 Of a bridal Hera for Plataiai, and dancing Lakedai-
monian women, ascribed to Callimachos, we are told that their extreme finish
destroyed their grace. ^3* Different authors speak of his painful particularity
in detail, and hence he has been ranked second to the great masters.639
A contemporary of the men thus far described, one Demetrios, born in the
Attic demos Alopeke, judging from the descriptions of his works, seems to
stand somewhat apart from his fellows, following a realistic tendency, which
crops out, however, also in vase-painters of this time. Of gods, one figure
only, that of the goddess Athena, is recorded from his hand ; the remainder
of his works being portraits, two of which were of wrinkled old age.^<> One
represented a priestess who had served her shrine for sixty-four years ; and the
other Pelichos, a Corinthian general. The inscription of the former is prob-
ably preserved to us.^' The latter is vividly described by Lucian, who says,
" Have you not seen, on entering the court, that excellent statue by Deme-
trios } I mean the old man with round belly, bald head, and beard, of which
some hairs seem blown by the wind, and with a body half-bared, having swol-
len veins, and like that of a man who enjoys the good things of life." Quin-
tilian*s blame of Demetrios, that he cared more for resemblance than beauty,
seems to indicate in him a realism foreign to the general spirit of the sculp-
tures of this time.^
Among other sculptors of this latter half of the fifth century, was one Nike-
ratos, who represented Alkibiades and his mother, Demarate, offering with a
burning lamp.643 Micon, the painter, and sculptor as well, and the scholars
of Critios, were also now active, and with numerous others, of many of whom
the names only are preserved in fragmentary inscriptions, witness to the tre-
mendous artistic life of Athens.^ I
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326 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
And 30 we turn gladly from this dubitable land, where report and conjecture
rule, to the monuments themselves, — those eloquent, although sadly mutilated,
witnesses to the greatness of Attic art, — and eagerly question them as to the
secrets of that great age.
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CHAPTER XIX,
ATTIC SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C
THE PARTHENON.
The Sacred Acropolis. — The Destruction and Rebuilding of its Holy Places.— Vicissitudes of the
Parthenon. — Changes made in Byzantine Times. — Destruction by the Venetians. — Wide Dis-
persion of Fragments.-— Rescue of Elgin Marbles. -^Carrey's Drawings.— Extent of Sculptures
of Parthenon.— The Metopes. — Diversity of their Style. — Compared with Olympia Marbles.—
The Frieze. — Subjects treated. — The Gods. — Sacrificial Scene. — Panathenaic Procession. —
The Sculptures of the Pediments. — Reports of the Ancients. — Present Condition. — East Pedi-
ment.— Central Scene. — Remaining Figures. — West Pediment. — Its Subject. — Tragic Fate of
the most of its Sculptures. — Athena Group. — Poseidon Group. — Characteristics of Style and
Treatment of Pedimental Sculptures. — Superiority to many Great Works of Antiquity.— Admi-
rable Adaptation to Temple Adornment. — Influences which produced these Achievements in Sculp-
ture.— Opinions concerning them. — Their Charm not dependent upon Material used. — Majesty of
the Thought
The costly chryselephantine colossi and the less pretending bronzes which
did service in the temples have perished ; but priceless marbles have outlived
the buffettings of time, witnesses to the marvellous activity in Athens dur-
ing the latter half of the fifth century B.C. In the very front rank are the
marbles which adorned the temple of Pheidias' golden Athena Parthenos,
erected on the summit of the Acropolis.
This height had been from time immemorial the most sacred spot in the
eyes of the Athenians. There, through centuries, the holy flame had burned ;
there Poseidon's sacred spring and Athena's olive had been jealously guarded ;
and there her time-honored wooden image had been worshipped, and her treas-
ure hoarded. But the wasting fires of the Persian occupation had desecrated
this spot, and burned down its temples. To rebuild these, the Athenians, under
Pericles, set resolutely to work; and, about 447 B.C., the glorious structure
of the Parthenon (Virgin's Shrine) was begun, to be finished, probably, about
434 B.C.^45 Could we have visited the Attic capital during this time, we
should have seen the people thronging the site of the building, and the ar-
tists' workshops. We should have seen blocks of Pentelic marble pass up the
steep sides of the Acropolis, drawn on carts, or carried on the backs of mules.
If we may believe andent story, even these beasts of burden took an interest in
the raising of the structure. We are told that an octogenarian mule, dismissed
from service on account of age, still joined the procession of carts, plodding
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328 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
energetically by the side of its younger comrades, and, as a reward for faith-
fulness, received a lifelong pension from the state.^46
By 437 B.C. the statue of Athena Parthenos stood nearly complete, and
was consecrated in that year in connection with the great festival in honor of
Athena ; but it is probable that the temple pediments were not completed until
about three years later. As a great religious centre of ancient Hellas, this
temple received gifts from all. Even long after Athens' political glory had
faded, monarchs such as Alexander, and Attalos of Pergamon, continued to
send thither their gifts. In and about it were placed statues, even on the
steps leading up to the colonnade. So numerous were the treasures, that one
ancient writer found material to fill four, and another fifteen, books, simply in
describing these votive gifts.
The history of the building, and the storms which it has braved, might fill
a volume of breathless interest. Sulla, the Roman conqueror, was satisfied
with despoiling the Acropolis of only fifty pounds of gold, and six hundred of
silver ; and, more than five hundred years after its completion, men wondered
at the freshness of the temple and its statue. It was with the fall of the
ancient world before Christianity, approximately in the fifth century A.D., that
this temple of the pagan virgin-goddess of wisdom first suffered much change^
being turned into a chiirch of the saint of wisdom, Sophia, and, still later,
made sacred to the virgin mother of God. ^47 The east entrance was closed up
by an apsis built against it. The cella was covered with an arching roof, which
left the colonnade open, and the frieze exposed ; and two niches were broken
through the west pediment. The walls of the interior were covered with the
stiff forms of Byzantine art, traces of which are still to be recognized. Rude
inscriptions, scratched by the Christians, may still be seen, touching ejaculatory
prayers, like those in Roman catacombs, but strangely out of place on these
glorious columns. In 1458 the building passed into the hands of the Turks>
who soon turned it into a mosque, making little change, except the addition of
a minaret. In the seventeenth century the Turks, besieged by the Venetians,
retired to the Acropolis ; and a deserter bringing the news that the enemy were
using the Parthenon as a powder-magazine, the Venetian commander, Morosini^
gave orders to make a target of the building. On the evening of Friday, Sept.
26, 1687, a fatal bomb fell into the midst of the temple; and, in the catastrophe
which followed, all that was left of the glorious Parthenon was a part of the
cella-^dW and pediments, with remnants of sculpture, and a few columns.
With the capitulation of the Turks, two days later, the work of spoliation com-
menced. Orders were given to tear the steeds from Athena's chariot in the
west pediment ; but in being lowered they fell, and were shattered into a thou-
sand pieces. A fatal passion for possession seems to have seized those who
visited Greece in the eighteenth century ; and the work of destruction was
accelerated by the Athenians themselves, who burned many fragments to obtain
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HISTORY OF THE PARTHENON MARBLES. 329
lime. Finally, in the years 1801-03, Lord Elgin happily appeared to rescue
much of the remainder. After long delay, and many perils, the marbles ar-
rived in England, exciting great interest, and awakening much diversity of
opinion.648 Even accredited authorities in art-matters declared them to be
"not originals,*' but from "Hadrian's time," and the work of "journeymen not
deserving the name of artists." As praiseworthy exceptions, Benjamin West,
the American painter, and Haydon, the English sculptor, recognized the artis-
tic value of the marbles immediately ; the latter pleading for them in an appeal
to Parliament. In 18 16 they were acquired by the British Government for the
sum of thirty-five thousand pounds, and received shelter in the British Museum.
The remaining fragments from the Parthenon are scattered far and wide in
Copenhagen, Baden, Paris, Vienna, and elsewhere; and some still cling to the
temple-ruins. 649 Their material is not costly imported Parian marble, but from
the quarries on Mount Pentelicos, near Athens ; and its golden hue may still
be recognized on many of the slabs of the frieze, which are protected by glass
cases in the Elgin room : while the pedimental groups are hopelessly stained
with the gray city-fog.
Fortunately, before the demons of war were let loose, and powder shattered
those time-honored walls, a French artist, Jacques Carrey, had made hasty
sketches of the sculptures in fourteen days. These drawings have proved of
the greatest importance in studying the composition of the ruined marbles,
and bring home to us a sense of our great loss. ^5° In 1676 two English travel-
lers, Spon and Wheler, forerunners of the present throng of tourists, visited
Athens, and confirmed the correctness of Carrey's drawings by their quaint
descriptions.
Th^ sculptures adorning the exterior of the Parthenon comprised (compare
I^i& 113) (^) detached groups, which gave emphasis to the metopes of a pon-
derous entablature surrounding the entire building; (d) a graceful band or
frieze, which enriched the top of the sacred place, or cei/a, — this frieze, raised
12.20 meters (forty feet) above the eye, and visible to those walking under the
colonnades, alone having had a length of 128.60 meters (five hundred and twenty
feet) ; and (i) statues in dramatic composition, which occupied the east and
west pediments. How impossible a task it would have been for one man, in
a few short years, to produce this work, comprising several thousand square
feet of relief, well-nigh fifty colossal marble statues, besides several colossi of
gold and ivory, is apparent : and while the conception of the whole, and, doubt-
less, designs for some of the details, emanated from Pheidias, the execution
must have been by other hands ; and, indeed, it seems evident, from inscrip-
tions recently found, that the pedimental sculptures were not completed until
after his death.^5»
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330 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
THE METOPES.
The metopes of the strong Doric frieze surrounding the Parthenon,
ninety-two in number, were all sculptured, requiring an expenditure of labor
not found on the metopes of any other existing temple ; judging from their
style, they were executed before the remaining sculptures of the building.
Forty-one of these mutilated groups still crown the lofty pillars; one is in
Athens, detached from the building; eighteen are entirely gone; the best pre-
served, fifteen in number, are in the British Museum ; and one is in the Louvre.
These sculptured squares (1.28 by 1.2 1 meter) present vaned scenes, the exact
relationship of which to one another and the rest of the temple-marbles is not
in every case clear, on account of their ruined condition. On the east front
seems to be represented the battle of gods with giants, those personifications
of evil over whom the deities of Olympos came off victorious, chiefly through
the courage of Athena, who, with Zeus and Heracles, destroyed the "fierce
brood." On one of the metopes, still on the building, it is possible to recog-
nize the goddess herself in conflict with her foe. On the west side the sub-
ject seems to be either the mythic conflict of Greeks with Amazons, or the
battle of Marathon. In either case the meaning seems to be the expulsion
of invaders, and establishment of order. The scenes of the longer, the north
and south, sides, are from the conquest of Troy, and the conflicts with the
centaurs which arose at the wedding of the Lapith king, Peirithoos. On one
of them, according to Carrey's drawing, were represented two females, appar-
ently taking refuge by the stiff image of a god. Others represent the bearing
off of the women of the bridal party by the centaurs, or the conflicts of these
monsters with the Greeks ; victory seeming now to turn to the side of the war-
riors, and now to that of their foe. In each metope two figures are wrestling;
and so well expressed are the positions, that it would be well-nigh impossible to
change the grip of a hand, or thrust of a foot, without breaking down the whole
artistic structure. In some this vigorous composition is coupled with a harsh-
ness of execution, both in the nude and drapery, in striking contrast to the
perfect freedom in others. An amusing but reliable characteristic of the better
metopes is to be found in the centaurs' tails. It will be seen throughout, that,
where they are thrown up, the sculpture is lively and excellent ; but, where they
drop to the ground, there is much harsh archaism in the forms, calling to mind
in many instances the centaur-groups of the Olympia pediment by which the
sculptors of these metopes were evidently greatly influenced.652 To the harsher
class belongs that metope in the British Museum in which the bellicose centaur
rears up, while a youth thrusts one knee against his ponderous weight, and
catches him by the ear and hair. With an expression of great surprise, but
sly determination, the centaur clutches his antagonist by the throat, and slings
the front hoof around the Greek's raised leg, leaving us in uncertainty as to the
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METOPES OF THE PARTHENON.
331
issue. The youth's face, devoid of any emotion, retains the immobility of
archaic features. The centaur's eyebrows arch like a crescent, his forehead
and cheeks are full of wrinkles, his hair is dishevelled, and his low-bridged
nose, and broad, spreading nostrils, give him a brutal look, very like the cen-
taurs of Olympia In this metope, and the one placed next to it, in the Elgin
room, we find the centaurs' equine bodies disagreeably slender ; the tails falling
straight to the ground, and the youths' forms meagre. In another metope,
belonging to this harsher class, a rearing centaur catches a fallen Lapith by
the hair as he sinks on one knee (Fig. 148). We feel that the warrior must
either the next moment spring up to save himself, or perish. With one hand
he catches a stone at his side, and with the other pushes off the ponderous
enemy bearing down upon him. The
mantle, slipping from his right shoulder,
must soon fall off entirely in the fierce
melie; although its leathery folds call
to mind the earlier, coarser work at
Olympia, yet its lines throw out well
the surface of the body, and pleasantly
fill up the relief. The Lapith's form is
severe in outline, and his face shows
something of suffering. His eyebrows
are knitted, and his forehead slightly
wrinkled; but his closed mouth can
utter no cry. He endures heroically.
The centaur's tail, which falls straight
to the ground, is apparently an un-
finished mass, the details probably once having been expressed by color. On
still another metope a rearing centaur has his arms thrown up, as if swinging
a rough club ; and his brutal face is full of jeering assurance of triumph. The
standing youth vigorously pushes back his enemy's arms, and plants his foot
against the hostile bulk, but reaches it only with his toes, making us fear that
they must soon slip off. The youth's drapery flies in low relief behind : the
forms are harsh, and the centaur's tail is unnaturally rigid.
Of the superior class of metopes, in which the centaur's tail is raised, there is
one in which a centaur bears off a woman. A stone, which he has dropped, lies
on the ground : his frail victim pulls at his strong wrist, as at Olympia, to loosen
his grasp, and violently throws herself. Her thin drapery shares the agitation :
it has partially dropped from her bosom, and flutters about her in countless
folds. The centaur's self-satisfied face, less brutal than that of his senior at
Olympia, bears a striking resemblance to the portraits of Socrates, who, on
account of his ugly features, was the butt of the Attic stage. The form of
this centaur combines strong, full proportions with an admirable rendering
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 148, Mttopt from Parthuion. Conflict bctwoon
Contour and Laptth. Brttloh Husoum.
332
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
of skin and veins : the space above his back is pleasantly occupied by the
woman's mantle flying in the breeze made by his canter. Still another metope
represents a centaur seizing a powerfully built woman, who is in such rapid
flight that her chiton flies open, exposing one leg. The centaur's clutch has
torn the garment from her shoulder ; and she, like her companion of the last-
mentioned metope, struggles to unlock his grasp. These two metopes stood
one on each side of a third, in which seems reflected the imposing form of the
Apollo of the Olympia pediment. In these three metopes, then, we have, as
Furtwangler believes, the central composition of the west pediment at Olympia
sundered into three groups, losing, however, thereby, something of the fresh-
ness and intensity of those older marbles. ^s^* On another metope, a centaur
raises on high a huge vase, doubtless one of the wine-jars of the feast, soon to
descend with fatal crash on the head of his enemy. The centaur-face has here
a more human expression than else-
where, which is enhanced by the well-
shapen skull, and orderly beard and
hair. The Lapith foe holds on his
left arm a shield, and supports himself
in his fall : around his head is bound
a fillet, and his face wears only a shade
of apprehension. The foreshortening
of his farther leg is interesting, as the
only example in the metopes of the
British Museum, and is a mode of
treating relief not generally practised
until later. As may readily be sup-
posed, in this excellent metope the
centaur's tail is thrown up, the extreme tip falling over on to the haunches.
On still another, a Greek, planting one knee on the centaur's back, has brought
him to the ground, and, seizing him by the neck, is about to deal the fatal blow.
The centaur, with widely opened mouth, is screaming in his distress ; for, un-
like the heroic Greek, the beast succumbs to fear. We admire the anatomy
of his fallen form, and its skilful union of the human and equine, as well as
the robust and pliable shape of the warrior. Again (Fig. 149), a powerful Greek
has caught a centaur from behind, and seems to be causing him much trouble,
as with his left arm he seizes the brute's hair, and, with right extended, prob-
ably prepares to deal a fatal blow. Let us note how his full mantle, spread
out behind, well fills out the background of the sculpture, and throws out its
vigorous forms. Crowning all, is the metope (Fig. 1 50) in which the struggle
is past, and the semi-beast gallops away over the body of his fallen foe, waving^
triumphantly his lion's skin. The whole form seems to swell with joy, a strik-
ing contrast to the prostrate Greek, who lies on his mantle, his head hanging
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 149, ii§tOfi€ from Partliwion, Britltk Mu^mim,
METOPES OF THE PARTHENON.
333
over a rock, and his muscles relaxed in death. Would that the face had been
preserved, for it might have revealed to us how the Attic artists then expressed
the pangs of death ! Comparing this body with other fallen warriors, such as
those from the friezes of the Theseus temple, from Phigaleia and Xanthos, or
with the fallen sons of Niobe, we shall feel at once its simple boldness and
ideal truth.
With few exceptions, these metopes, representing the battles of the cen-
taurs, as we have seen, not only in their composition, but also in their very
mode of treatment, seem to be de-
pendent upon the older sculptures at
Olympia. As Furtwangler well ex-
presses it, these sculptures in Attica
are evidently a current from the great
art-stream which flowed in Olympia.
But what seemed like a mighty river
there, here flows in a narrower
bed, and is quieter and more clear.
The fulness and broadness there, is
here reduced to meagreness ; the ex-
aggerated, to moderation, — showing
improvements being made by the
later Attic masters upon what we
believe to be their Ionian models.
How admirably sculptural the old
motives have become, appears on considering the relationship of these metopes
to the architecture ; their bold, horizontal lines, strongly contrasted with the
perpendiculars of the triglyphs ; the strong lights and deep shadows of their
high relief, sometimes jutting over the edge; and the dark background of color,
traces of which are still left, — giving a solidity of effect eminently suited to
the massive Doric entablature of the imposing temple-exterior.
Fig, 160. lt9top9 from Parthenon. Triumph of Centaur
omr Dead Laplth, Britisk Museum.
THE FRIEZE.
Turning from the metopes (Fig. 113 a), on the exterior of the building we
may contemplate the unbroken frieze (Fig. 113 ^/) which encircled the top of
the wall of the ce/la, or body of the temple. Here, within the massive columns,
under the roof of the colonnade, this frieze, 128.60 meters (520 feet) in length,
and about one meter in height, ran along the entablature of the pronaos and
cpisthodomos^ as well as the north and south walls of the Itecatampedos and
Parthenon (see temple-plan, Fig. 112). This long, unbroken frieze here most
beautifully takes the place occupied by metopes and triglyphs in the older
Doric temple at Olympia, but shows its Doric affinities by retaining the tri j
Digitized by V^OOQIC
334 TliE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITO&
glyph in the rudimentary form of its regulafisi About 122 meters of this frieze
now line the Elgin room ; one beautiful slab is in the Louvre ; fragments of
others are in Vienna, Carlsruhe, and Athens ; and much of the remainder is
still attached to the ruins,^53* In studying this frieze, Carrey's drawings are
invaluable assistants, supplementing many details now lost.
In this sculptured band, which surrounded the temple-walls, a procession
passes before our eyes, such as wound through the streets of Athens at the
great festival in honor of Athena, founded, it was believed, in mythic ages, by
Erichthonios, Athena's adopted son, and renewed by Theseus, the great hero-
of Attica. This Panathenaic festival fell in high summer, and consisted, origi-
nally, in an annual sacrifice, athletic competitive games, and the bringing of the
peplosy a piece of richly embroidered apparel, for the goddess. ^54 Peisistratos
enhanced the attractions of the festival by adding a competition of rhapsodists^
who delivered, in a free manner, Homeric poems ; and the public-spirited Peri-
cles increased the number of these musical and poetical contests. Not Athens*
alone brought hecatombs for offering, but also her colonial cities, each of which
sent a spotless cow and two sheep for ofiFering. The first four days were
passed in games and rivalries, in music and song. The prize awarded was an
olive-wreath, and a vase containing sacred oil from Athena's olives. On the
recurrence of each 01)mnipiad, every fifth year, the procession was made richer
than at the annual festivals. On the last day, the traditional anniversary of
Athena's birth, a new and beautiful feplos^ embroidered by high-born Attic
maidens and matrons with heroic scenes, — especially the combat of the god-
dess herself with the giants, — was carried in solemn procession to the Acrop-
olis, there to be clothed upon her ancient idol. Choice sacrifices were then
brought to the goddess, a bounteous repast spread before the people, and cap-
tives were set free. All Attica took part, old and young, mother and maiden,
free-born and alien. Even the freed slaves shared in the rejoicings, decorating
the market-place with oak-leaves. In the procession, as we learn from litera-
ture, native-born Athenian ladies carried vessels and vases for ofiFering, attended
by their less fortunate alien sisters with umbrellas and chairs. Only maidens
of highest rank and of blameless character and person, prepared by several
days of abstinence and seclusion, were allowed to bear in baskets, to the altar^
sashes to wreathe the victim, and set it apart as holy, sacrificial knives, and
corn to strew upon the offering. In the procession were to be seen envoys in
charge of the beasts for sacrifice ; gray-haired sires, chosen for their beauty,
bearers of branches from Athena's sacred olive-tree; heavy-armed men of
Athens ; and youths on horseback or in chariots, — the whole being under the
direction of marshals. And all this fleeting mortal beauty, which was to be
seen in Athens over twenty-three hundred years ago, has been made immor-
tal by the sculptor in the ideal splendor of his art.
In the east frieze, on the front of the temple, there reigned in the corn-
Digitized by V^OOQLC
EAST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON.
335
position a quiet beseeming the approach to the sacred building. Single groups
from this eastern frieze, showing the true beauty of the forms, and exquisite
surface-rendering, appear in Selections, Plates III. and IV. ; and the centre
which occupied the space over the temple-entrance is represented in Fig. 151.
Here a sacred rite is being observed, in which five standing
mortals participate. On each side the gods themselves are |i
enthroned as honored guests in the midst of the people, who g
stand or approach beyond them. But the gods are conceived -^
as unseen by the multitude, as the first approaching figures |
have their backs turned upon these deities. Directly over a>
the entrance a stately woman (Fig. 1 5 1, a), doubtless a priest- I
ess, takes a chair from the head of a smaller female attend- ^
ant, and will, in like manner, soon relieve a second who ^
approaches with her burden, and looks back seemingly at g*
the procession, of which this group is doubtless conceived ^
as a part.655 Beside the priestess, a dignified bearded man g
(6) is engaged in taking from or handing to a beautiful youth *^
a robe ; or, it may be, he aids in folding it. This scene is ^ ?
often explained as the ceremonious handing of the embroid- ^^ |
ered peplos to a priest within the temple ; but the presence | f
of the priestess and her two maidens makes it more probable ^ *
that this is a sacrificial scene outside the building, where ^ S
preparations are being made for the offering of the victims g |
represented in the frieze as approaching.^s* Brunn first sug- | g
gested that the folded robe in question was probably nothing ^
else than the priest's own mantle {hitnatiofi) ; since he alone ^
of the bearded men of the procession is not wrapped in this | ' S^^^ff /
robe, worn over the long chiton. Moreover, the strong resem- ^'^
blance of this folded cloth to the mantles worn by the rest, ^
having the same undulating border and ample size, but no §
indication of embroidery, conflicts with the theory that it is g
the peplos. On the supposition, then, that this is a sacrifi- j
cial scene, we may believe that the priest here lays off his - ■wm\>T>'.
cumbrous garment, and hands it to his attendant, prepara- ^ %^^^SsJ
tory to the solemn act of slaying the victims. The repre- *" ' ^
sentation on an Attic relief of a priest in the same untram-
melled dress, and holding the knife, is, moreover, strongly confirmatory of this,
explanation. While the priest is thus engaged, the priestess lowers the chairs
that are to be occupied by him and her during the approach of the procession.
When all is ready, the priestess will lift up a prayer, the priest will slay the
victim, and lay its flesh upon the altar to be burned, a sweet-smelling and ac-
ceptable oflEering before the gods. ^57 Such is, in all probability, the sacred ,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
336 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
rite suggested in this scene by the laying off of a garment and the receiving
a chair, acts insignificant in themselves.
On each side of this central scene, the sculptor has placed divinities, seven
gods and goddesses on a side ; their superiority to mortals being indicated by
their greater size. It is claimed by some, that these are all Attic deities ; but
by others the conjecture is, that they represent a wider circle, the twelve
great Olympic gods (Zeus, Hera, Athena, Hephaistos, Poseidon, Hermes, Ares,
Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Hestia), whose worship was, accord-
ing to Thukydides, established by Peisistratos in Athens, who erected an altar
to them in the market-place, a part of the inscription of which has recently been
discovered. ^58 The supporters of this theory claim, that, changes being usual
in local worship, one female deity, perhaps Hestia, is replaced in this frieze by
Dionysos, who was especially honored in Athens.^59 At the right of the central
scene (Fig. 151, c), first and mightiest is Zeus, the king of gods, majestically
seated upon a throne adorned with sphinxes, and more elaborate than the rest
A rich mantle leaves his powerful chest exposed, but drops fully about his
limbs to the sandalled feet. One hand holds easily the royal sceptre ; and his
left arm rests upon the back of his regal throne, partly covered by the folds of
his mantle. Beside him sits his spouse, the matronly, fully draped Hera (d),
who unveils to him alone her beauty. By the two a smaller figure (e) —
whose standing posture and wings mark her as one of the minor goddesses —
is, probably. Iris of the "golden wings," Zeus* messenger, and Hera's constant
attendant, the one who prepared their couch, and executed their commands.
Somewhat separated from them are four youthful divinities, seen in diminutive
form in Fig. 151, and in full in Selections, Plate III. The first of these is, per-
haps, the stormy Ares, who clasps his knee, — a pose which is thought, in an-
cient art, to have expressed struggling with inner emotion. The sculptor could
not show in a seated figure all the wild passion of the war-god, and so takes this
subtle way of hinting Ares' fierce nature, indicated also m the broad, strong
-chest. The seated Ares in the Villa Ludovisi, with sword and shield, has the
same attitude ; and Eros, playing under his seat, shows that thoughts of love
there keep the fierce god from war. In the frieze of Lysicrates' Choragic
monument of the fourth century B.C., a satyr (Fig. 203) sits thus clasping
his knee ; his uneasy pose, while the battle rages beyond him, expressing here
also restrained excitement. In this Ares of the east frieze of the Parthenon,
the attractions of the coming procession seem to bind, for the hour, the pas-
sions of the war-god. The choice and forms of the gods grouped with this fiery
Ares are eminently appropriate. Opposite to him, but likewise facing the pro-
cession, is one shod with high boots, ready for the journey, and holding on his
lap his broad hat, or petasos. This can be no other than Hermes, the mes-
senger-god. We almost expect, at a moment's warning, to see him spring from
his seat, draw on his mantle, as is usual with this god buttoned over the arm,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
EAST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. 337
put on his broad-brimmed hat, and speedily disappear. Leaning on Hermes*
shoulder is a youth of noble form and bearing, raised on a cushion higher than
the others, and with head turned to watch the coming procession. His left
arm is raised as if supported on a long sceptre, once represented in bronze ;
while rich, full drapery falls over his lap. Facing him is a goddess, enthroned
in like manner. The position of these figures, as Flasch has shown, aids in
their identification. They cannot be husband and wife, or lovers ; for, if such,
they would sit side by side. Seated as they are, opposite one another, with
intertwining limbs, their relationship is clearly that of brother and sister, —
doubtless the twin gods, Apollo and Artemis. Here Artemis, the restless
huntress, carries her attribute, the torch, and is bent forward, with right hand
holding her drapery, which threatens to slip off, while she looks through her
brother's upraised arms at the procession. Her long, maidenly locks fall over
her shoulders ; and her virgin form is so little developed, as to have led some
to imagine it to be that of a god. Only a shattered outline is left of all the
heads of this group, but how clearly in every line of drapery and form do we
read ease and grace coupled with exuberant strength !^59»
In the corresponding group of six great gods on the opposite, the left, side
of the central sacrificial scene, we see Athena (/), the beloved goddess of
Athens, and daughter of Zeus, seated in a place of honor, equal to that given
her father. Her implements of war are laid aside, and she appears radiant
in her maidenly beauty. Her hair flows freely down the back ; and a long
chiton^ girded at the waist, falls over her faultless form. The lap is too high
for folds of drapery alone, and on it we may discern the fringing serpents of
her (Bgis partly covered by her hand.
The contrast is striking between Athena and her neighbor (^), who, lean-
ing on his staff, looks back towards her. These massive shoulders and this
short neck can belong to no other than the lame blacksmith-god Hephaistos,
who, in the Homeric description, on leaving his forge to enter the assemblage
of the Olympic deities, " wiped with a sponge his face, both hands, stout neck,
and hairy chest," and caused "an inextinguishable laughter" to break "from
all the blessed gods, as they beheld him laboring o'er the palace-floor," even
though their assemblage had just been filled with bitter rancorings.^59»> We
almost imagine, on comparing the stately form of Zeus with this of He-
phaistos, that we can see in the latter the brawny muscles swollen from labor,
and the fingers crooked from long holding the hammer and tongs. Athena
here grouped with the artist-god, her unsuccessful lover, corresponds to Hera
with Zeus on the opposite side. It will be noticed, that monotony is avoided
by alternating the position of the male and female figures, and by the different
ages of the two goddesses, as well as the variety in the pose of hands and feet.
Next to Athena and Hephaistos, but separated from them by a narrow
space, is a group of four deities, and the boy -god Eros, still attached to the t
Digitized by V^OOQIC
338
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
temple, as maybe seen from Fig. 113; that they corresponded to the four
youthful figures beyond Zeus and Hera on the opposite side appears from
Fig. 151. In Fig. 152 this group appears on a larger scale ; and we see, first,
Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, his head bound about with a sacred fillet, and
his locks falling as though wet, and clinging to his neck. The strongly devel-
oped forehead, the arched upper lid almost touching the eyebrow, as well as
the widely opened lower one, give the god an air of self-sufficiency : but his
attitude is not that of easy repose ; leaning forward, as well becomes the stormy
sea-god, he seems to force himself to reserve and quiet. In the raised hand.
r'l'
•yatr'Mi
^^^PB
i
wKKPf ^Kl
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J f * "'^"^ - ■ IHbks!'''' ■''• s
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Ftg. 162. A Part of tht Etut FrUzn of tho Parthenon, AtliMS,
as indicated by holes in the marble, he once held some symbol, doubtless a tri-
dent of bronze, it being evident that the whole frieze was finished with adjuncts
of metal. Grouped with Poseidon, and apparently engaged in pleasant con-
verse, is a god whose type, and graceful laxity of pose, have won for him from
some the name of Dionysos : by others he is called Apollo. ^^o Qn his draperj'
we see that fluted edge, like the finished-off end of woven stuffs, a striking
characteristic of the sculptures of the Pheidian age, but disappearing in those
of the next century, when an exact and well-laid seam takes its place. Note
the similarity and yet great diversity in these two seated figures. In one the
arm is raised, with drapery gracefully falling over it. The legs are quietly
crossed, and the face turned, affording a front view of its beardless features.
In the other a strict profile is observed. The sandalled feet are uneasily in
Digitized by V^OO^IC
EAST FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON. 339
motion ; one of the arms is dropped, revealing a marvellous play of skin, veins,
and muscles. Heightening by contrast the beauty of these two manly forms,
there follow two female figures, attended by the winged Eros. Only a part of
one of these appears in the engraving ; but so noble and ravishing is its beauty,
that, in its contemplation, we would hush the murmur of conjecture as to
whom it represents. Let us note the grandeur of the form, the broad
shoulders and strong build, not entirely hidden by the rich drapery. How
exquisite the contrast between the fine, clinging folds of the chiton, unbut-
toned, and slipping from the left shoulder, and the sweep of the heavier man-
tle across the lap ! Around the head is bound a kerchief, concealing a part
of the hair, and reminding us much of the severer head of Philis on her tomb-
stone, pictured in Selections, Plate II. This head-dress appears from vases
sometimes to have been the house-cap of Greek women ; and if, with Flasch,
we consider this figure to be the goddess Demeter, it may here mark her
motherly and home character. Female servants, also, often wear it. And if
this goddess represents Peitho, Aphrodite's attendant, as others would have us
think, it would, perhaps, indicate her subjection to that great goddess. How-
ever this may be, this exquisite but impersonal face is one of the most pre-
cious witnesses to that ideal treatment, so pronounced in the Pheidian school,
which seems to have seized the general features of beauty, and avoided por-
traiture or fleeting emotion. Reclining against the knee of this goddess is the
form of a fascinating goddess, whose upper part, now sadly injured, in Carrey's
time was still intact. This easy pose, graceful form, and rich veil, are unmis-
takably those of Aphrodite. Her beautiful son and constant attendant, the
winged Eros, a full-grown lad, leans against her knee, holding an umbrella,
while she points over his shoulder to the coming procession (Fig. 151).
The four seated figures composing this group are contrasted strongly, in
their quiet repose, to the corresponding energetic ijid restless ones on the
opposite side adjoining Zeus and Hera, as a glance at Fig. 152, and at Selec-
tions, Plate III., will prove. Standing long before the assemblage of all these
gods, the eye catches, in the composition, infinite modulations of rhythm,
which, like gentle diminuendos, alternate with powerful crescendos, revealing
a subtle grace, transfiguring without supplanting symmetry. Thus, the full
rhythm is started in the figure of Zeus, easily reclining on his throne, and is
continued in the proud Hera, the position of whose arms is quietly repeated
in those of Iris by her side. In the next group of the youthful gods, after a
sudden break, the play of the rhythm is more energetic and abrupt, sinking
away, at last, in Hermes' lowered arms. On the opposite side is a correspond-
ing though varied play of the lines, and this conformity to rhythmic law
appears also in the position of the heads. Zeus and Athena, on each side
of the centre, are in profile. Beyond them come the full faces of Hera and
Hephaistos, corresponding to, and contrasted with, one another.
Digitized by
v^oogle
340 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOa
But let us turn to the approaching procession, 'towards which Aphrodite
points, and Hermes looks. Directly beyond these gods on each side, evidently
unconscious of their august presence, are groups of men, perhaps magistrates
of Athens, leaning on their staves, and, in true Attic style, engaging in quiet
converse. Next approach maidens, walking in couples, and bearing temple and
sacrificial utensils ; one group being represented in Selections, Plate IV. On
the one side two of the dignified men heading the procession have turned to
receive these graceful maidens, the first of whom appears to have lowered her
basket. Two others bear between them what seems to be a tall, slender
censer. The remainder carry in the right hand flat saucers or slender vases,
for use in the ritual, and mentioned in inscriptions as being of precious metal
The grace and modest dignity of these Attic girls seem to mirror the solem-
nity of the time and place. Only two, carrying between them a heavy censer,
appear to be speaking. Though few in number, how wonderfully, by their
dignified and slow advance, do they suggest a long and stately line to follow.
The broad, strong shoulders, the erect pose, and rich drapery falling to the
ground, give them a column-like appearance, gracefully varied by the womanly
bend of the heads, and the marvellous details of arms and hands. These
hands, a study in themselves, surpass all others, except perhaps those of
Raphael's Madonnas, from which, however, they differ, as does classic from
modem art. The costume is nearly the same throughout, but the constantly
varied drapery always reflects the form with delicate shades of change. The
principal garment is the long chiton, the upper part of which was folded over
from the shoulders, and, falling to the waist, was called the diplots. The lower
part, falling to the feet, was caught up at the waist in a baggy fold {kolfos).
From the shoulders of many hangs behind a small additional mantle. Although
the whole build of the form here, with its broad shoulders and narrow hips,
has still far more of the masculine about it than the sloping, curving lines
given to the female form in later days, does it not express with greater force
true feminine grace and dignity } Most of the heads are, alas ! gone ; but the
remaining fragments mark them as belonging to the same robust stock as the
youths of this frieze, and show a strong relationship to the less graceful Philis
head. All passion or emotion appears to lie dormant in their strongly cut
faces, in harmony with the dignified style of the age. Of every one of these
maidens we almost hear the ancient poet sing, as he did of Hero, the Lesbian
maid, —
" As through the temple passed the Lesbian maid,
Her face a softened dignity displayed :
Thus as she shone superior to the rest.
In the sweet bloom of youth and beauty dressed,
Such softness tempered with majestic mien,
The earthly priestess matched the heavenly queen."
Digitized by
Google
NORTH AND SOUTH FRIEZES OF THE PARTHENON. 34 1
Beyond these maidens, and concluding the reliefs to the right, on the east
side, stands one of the marshals of the procession. The corresponding clos-
ing figures to the left are lost.
Thus, as we have seen, on the front, or eastern, end of the temple, the sacri-
ficial scene occupied the centre, set apart, as it were, by enthroned gods on
either side; while men and maidens approached with a composure beseem-
ing the temple and a solemn service.
Turning the comers of the temple, we should find the procession on the
long sides was in full motion towards the front. In contrast to the quiet of
Pig, 163. A Part of the South Frtoie of the Parthenon. Cow$ M to Saerlffeo. Britteh UnMnim,
the front, here there was infinite variety of life and action. On each side
appeared first the victims for sacrifice, cows and sheep, — on the south doubt-
less those bro^lght by Athens herself to the goddess. Here cows, of which
there were originally at least nine, stepped quietly forward, or struggled to
break away from strong youths (Fig. 153). Even though we do not supply
in imagination the bronze cords which once held them, how powerful is that
group of the south side, where the youth has nearly lost his garment in the
endeavor to check his wildly springing charge ! The next cow catches her
unruly spirit ; and confusion threatens to spread in the orderly ranks, did not
a fellow-attendant now come to the rescue, and seize the powerful beast by
the horn.
On the north side the animals seem symbolical of the offerings frcmi fbFQadIp
342
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
as is indicated by the two sheep, since we know that the colonies sent heca-
tombs of diverse animals to the Panathenaic festival. These two sheep are
choice beasts, whose fleece is expressed with marvellous dexterity by a few
broad strokes. All the animals are attended by two or more youths each, who,
like priests chosen for the service of the goddess, advance beside their charge
with thoughtful mien, heads bowed, and, in one case, the full mantle drawn up,
even over the mouth. Perhaps the usual escort of high-born youths, sent to
present their cities' gifts to the Athenian shrine, are here represented.
Close upon these sacrificial beasts of the north side, to which similar
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fig. 164» A Part of the North Friezo of the Parthenon. Bearers of Vases with Liquid Offerings. Athens.
figures on the south, but now lost, doubtless corresponded, came youths bearing
trays with cakes for offering, and others with heavy vases (Fig. 154). Broad,
flat trays {scaphot) formed a part of the treasures of the Parthenon, and were
of silver or bronze. The vases having two handles, represented in the sculp-
ture, probably contained the wine used in the Panathenaic festival ; and the
youths bearing them are, no doubt, aliens, who were obliged to perform the
more menial part of the service. That their burdens are heavy, appears from
the care in supporting the jars with both hands, while the last one even rests
his for a moment on the ground. A glance at the dignified bearing, and sub-
tle, varied beauty in the details of drapery, while the general flow is the same
in all, will assure us how great a treasure was recovered when in 1833 this
slab was found within the peristyle of the Parthenon. Following close, upon
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NORTH AND SOUTH FRIEZES OF THE PARTHENON. 343
the beasts of sacrifice, and offerings of cake and wine, musicians naturally had
their place. In Carrey's drawings appear four flute-players, and four others
striking the lyre, as from the north side, parts of which only are preserved.
On the south side a corresponding group was probably also to be seen.
Thus far, on the north and south of the temple, the figures seem to have
proceeded in single numbers and column-like regularity, broken only by the
occasional excitement of checking an unruly beast of sacrifice. After the
musicians, however, the figures were more massed. A dense group, mostly of
bearded men, now appeared, partially preserved on both the north and south
sides. The holes about their hands indicate that some object was once at-
tached to them. One of the rivalries of the Panathenaic festival, according
to inscriptions, concerned manly beauty. From each tribe {fhyle) the most
comely men were chosen ; the wealthy among the citizens defraying the ex-
penses of their vestments, thus performing a public service, like that of train-
ing choirs of boys, or providing other entertainment for the people. These
groups may, then, represent elderly men singled out for their beauty, to bear
in their hands branches of sacred olive, considered the gift of the goddess.
Their dense numbers gracefully suggest the masses of the procession, which,
even though it had been possible to represent it in full, would have been
monotonous from the necessary repetition of perpendicular lines. A painter,
by the charm of color, atmospheric effects, and perspective, may make a
crowd interesting ; but such picturesque treatment of masses we never find
attempted in sculpture by the Greeks before the late Hellenistic age. On
the north side the last of these beautiful men, startled by the advancing char-
iots, has nearly lost his mantle. This action breaks up the regularity of the
groups, and prepares the eye for the extreme motion which follows. Four fiery
steeds plunge forward, drawing a graceful two-wheeled chariot. Behind them
follow a glorious parade of other chariots with prancing horses, growing
more quiet, like a retiring wave towards the beginning of the line. Here the
steeds are being fed by the groom, and the charioteer is awaiting his time.
Of the ten chariots which originally adorned the north side, nine are partially
preserved : of the eight on the south side, only five exist. Each one is accom-
panied by a warrior in armor, either sitting beside the charioteer, or springing
off and on, keeping pace with the chariot in full motion, — feats fabled to have
been introduced into the races in mythic times by the Attic hero Erichthonios.
The warrior naturally ran on the left side, the other being occupied by the
charioteer. This fact, like that of the girls uniformly carrying sacred vessels
in the right hand, produces pleasing variety. Thus, on the north the warriors
appear on the nearer side of the chariot, while on the south they are always
beyond them. The long, flowing robes of the charioteers give them a resem-
blance to women ; but on vases, coins, and several of the Mausoleum reliefs,
such long-robed charioteers appear, showing that this habit was customary
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344
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
with men of this profession. Among the plunging chariot-steeds, marshals
keep order ; their animated, graceful forms and excited drapery creating variety,
and filling up the unoccupied spaces above the horses* backs.
On both the north and south sides, close upon the chariots, approached the
pride of Attica's youths, mounted on fiery steeds, prancing along (Fig. 155), or
standing impatient to join the rest. On the slabs of the south side this beau-
tiful array presses somewhat uniformly forward, becoming quieter near the
chariots. On those of the north side, however, the action is far more varied
-■--*^*i^^f^wpa
Pig. 166. A Part of th§ Nortk Prleie of tko Parthenon, Proceaaton of Mounfd Youths. BritiaM Museum.
and intense, swelling now like a mighty wave, and, again, dying gently away.
A few wear full armor ; others are only partially armed ; while many are clad
in the simple, girded c/itton and mantle, or the mantle alone. Sometimes they
wear a crested helmet; sometimes a leathern cap similar to that common
among the Persians, and which may have been adopted after the Persian war ;
sometimes a broad-brimmed hat ; but generally they are bareheaded. Many
are shod with buskins having leathern tops, which flap with the motion of the
riders : others are barefooted. The seat of these riders is uniformly firm, and
charmingly natural, be the horses quiet or prancing, with two, three, or even
all four, feet quite off the ground ; and the drapery responds to the form it
covers, and the motion of the steed. In the north frieze the first few figures,
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NORTH AND SOUTH FRIEZES OF THE PARTHENON. 345
fortunately well preserved, are quietly preparing to join those already under
way. Here stands a horse, by whose side the youth arranges the folds of his
chiton with the aid of a small attendant, who bears on his shoulders the rider's
raahtle. Beyond this first group the figures become denser ; and in the glori-
ous riders, sometimes three, and sometimes seven, deep, the movement rapidly
grows intense, and reaches its height, to subside again as it advances towards
the front. In the south frieze the movement is more quiet : the riders do not
appear to be so many abreast, and the horses are less spirited in the slabs pre-
served ; but many are, unfortunately, seriously damaged. These steeds are all
evidently of that breed described by the ancient horse-fancier Xenophon, when
advising his friend what manner of horse to buy.^^i In looking at them, we
almost hear his words : " Legs firm and bony, not muscular ; joints flexible ;
the chest broad, contributing both to beauty and strength ; the neck not fall-
ing forward like a boar's, but growing upwards like a cock's ; head small and
bony; eyes prominent and vigilant; nostrils wide, convenient for breathing,
and terrific in appearance ; ears small ; shoulders high ; loins compact ; barrel
round and short, and haunches high;" while, in observing the management of
these steeds, we almost believe these youths to be following directions, like
those given by this general when he says, " If it should happen to any owner
of a horse, that, as tribune or commander of cavalry, he should have to lead a
column, he should be careful, not so to display himself that he alone should
have a splendid appearance, but much rather that the whole squadron should
be worthy of admiration. If, having put his horse upon his mettle, he lead
his troops neither too rapidly nor too slowly, but advance at a speed suitable
to horses of great spirit, high courage, fine figure, and good bottom, there will
be a perpetual stamping, neighing, and snorting ; and not he alone, but every
one in the whole line, will appear worthy of the highest admiration." This
the sculptor seems also to feel, keeping alive the interest by infinite modifica-
tions of the same action seen in the playful variation of the lines, and intricacy
and multiplicity of the intersecting limbs. As has been well said, " Before we
have well examined one figure, another quite different diverts the attention.
At one moment we are engaged in admiring a horse's forehead, and at the
next the haunches of another attract our notice ; the eye is rapidly hurried
from one object to another; the varied forms and altered situations chase
through the mind, and produce the effect of actual motion ; " ^^ while the
order which reigns throughout gives the impression of that self-control urged
by the veteran Xenophon, and more highly esteemed by the Greeks than all
other accomplishments. The figures in repose show the strength which could
be aroused to intense action : the rearing horse and powerful beast for offering
do not drag these youths into any wild or unbridled action, and we are confi-
dent of their final mastery. Thus a sublime morality seems to speak from
each marble form, telling of a firm and symmetrical character. I
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346 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Passing to the west end, the rear of the temple, we should find that only
one beautiful slab (Selections, Plate V.) has been removed from the Parthenon.
The general quiet of this west frieze is enlivened by motion in its centre. The
procession is forming, doubtless as it often did in reality, in the outer Keramei-
cos ; a horse is being bridled ; a marshal seems expostulating about delay; two
figures tighten their sandals, and look up at those already mounted ; another
puts on his garments ; others still stand quietly by their steeds, one of which
appears to be brushing a fly off his front leg ; another horseman swings a whip
at his unruly beast. Here and there are couples already under way, and gallop-
ing on to join those of the north side, as we see in the first group, just before
they reach the angle (Selections, Plate V.). How beautiful, in these two fig-
ures, the impatience of the steeds and the joyous self-reliance of the youths !
Happily the face of one in full front view is preserved. The graceful move-
ment of this youth as if to adjust a wreath, and the turn of the head of many
another, give us charming touches of nature. The direction of the procession,
diverging to pass around the two sides of the building, is without harsh dis-
turbance of the lines ingeniously started on this west side, by a horse who
breaks loose among the youths facing the north, and turns to run in the oppo-
site direction.663 His keeper struggles to check him, while a comrade comes to
his assistance. The line being thus broken, the eye accepts, although uncon-
sciously, the opposite direction, soon taken by the whole of the procession along
the south side. This masterly group of the rearing horse and his keeper may
have suggested the similar motive of the " Horse Tamers," on Monte Cavallo
at Rome. This and other figures from the frieze seem to have been familiar
motives ; since they appear on various later monuments, such as the Nereid
monument, and also on vases and terra-cottas.664
In these fascinating rows of horsemen, no two sit just alike. The usual
pose is in profile, but at intervals riders break the uniformity by turning the
body to speak or beckon to those following. Note the back of a rider from
whose shoulders the mantle has fallen, or the front of the one who looks back,
and raises his hand to his head as if to adjust his wreath (Selections, Plate V.).
The perfectly easy and natural manner in which the hands are used is a beauti-
ful study in itself. Sometimes they stroke caressingly the mane, as if to quiet
the fiery steed ; again, they pull the ear, the horse's most sensitive part ; or
swing the whip ; or, as in the majority of cases, simply hold the bridle. All
this is done with such subtle and beautiful variations in attitude, and in pose
of arms and fingers, as to make their study a true delight, showing us how
simple and yet effective the changes made on a single theme. The farther
feet of only a few of the horsemen are given, the great majority being appar-
ently covered by the nearer foot, or perhaps originally indicated by color,
of which, however, no traces are now to be found. Wherever given, the far-
ther foot is rendered with great skill ; and its omission cannot possibly be an
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STYLE OF THE PARTHENON FRIEZE. 347
oversight, but may rather have been intended to avoid confusion in the compo-
sition where the ranks were several figures deep. This explanation, however,
does not suffice for the single horseman, where also frequently but one foot
is to be seen.
Throughout the reliefs of this frieze, neither sameness nor conventionality
marks the nude. A suitable proportion is preserved between the broad, strong
shoulders and the loins, which are never too meagre, as was often the case in
earlier art. The muscles are decided, though expressed without that display
of the anatomical structure, met with in later art. On the other hand, the
generalization of the broader surfaces to a neglect of detail, seen in the older
style, is no longer visible. The veins, in their intricate network, and the sub-
tile tissues and rich folds of the skin, are rendered in the horses' strong forms,
as well as in those of youths and maidens. These details are, however, so
skilfully subordinated to the whole, that they never thrust themselves into
the foreground, to detract from the general impression. The drapery, with
its graceful, undulating border, has lost all traces of stiffness, and, besides,
thoroughly reflects the form beneath. True to its nature, it never seems exe-
cuted on its own account, or shows the trivially elaborate folds and surfaces
often met with in later times. Thus, in these reliefs, there is a golden mean
between the excessive generality and conventionalism of the earlier, and the
pronounced individuality and realism of the later, styles. The master, imbued
with the beautiful nature which surrounded him, has caught from her fleeting
moments exquisite tones of ease and grace, — the bend of the head, the quick
movement of the body, the stroking of the mane, the adjusting of a garment,
and the like ; but he has moulded the whole into truly ideal forms, pervaded by
a sense of the noblest artistic style. In the few faces preserved, there is a
grandeur and simplicity, combining the last faint echo of the olden time with
a new and freer life. The shape of the skull, round rather than square, is full
and faultless ; the ear correctly placed ; the eye perfectly shaped, as well in
profile as in front view, but not deeply set, as in later art ; while the chin is
strong, and the neck gracefully poised. No archaic precision is evident in the
treatment of beard or hair ; nor are they, on the other hand, luxuriant, but
exceedingly simple. Little individuality or emotion is, besides, expressed by
these gods, sages, warriors, and maidens ; for the joyous healthfulness of a
harmonious being alone pervades them all. They seem to us elevated by their
sublime nature above the ills of ordinary mortals. As the wounds of the Ho-
meric gods were said to have healed without leaving a scar ; so, on the faces of
the gods and mortals of the Parthenon frieze, the expressions of passion, love,
sorrow, or anger seem to have passed over, leaving no traces of their power.
And all this life, grace, and subtle detail is given in relief much less than four
inches in depth ; so that we constantly ask ourselves how this multitude of
figures, this intricate tracery of veins, and gently flowing skin, could have been ,
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*
348 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
expressed on so flat a plane, and still be as clear as limpid water, and as truth-
ful as nature. This lowness of the relief was, moreover, eminently appropriate
for the running, border-like character of the frieze. The surface-plane is every-
where uniform, the background alone being varied by unequal depth. None of
those unpleasant projecting parts, seeming to start out from the general level,
occur, which are often met with in Roman and mediaeval works. The relief of
the upper parts of the figures is more pronounced than that of the lower, doubt-
less to counterbalance any unpleasant perspective which might have been felt
by those looking up from the colonnades below. The uniformly gentle eleva-
tions, with subdued light and shade, assist the eye in its passage from one
scene to the other, and make this frieze admirably suited for its place as an
encircling band in the architecture. The relief is, moreover, truly sculptural,
but without the harshness of many archaic works ; there being added here a
pictorial element evident in the groupings, as well as in the subtle grading
of the shadows of the nude and the drapery. Foreshortening is sparingly
used : and the profile view, better suited to relief, is generally employed ; while
it is pleasantly varied at intervals by a form in full front view. No meaning-
less figures are introduced simply to fill up the vacant space. This is often
occupied in an exceedingly interesting and simple manner, by giving riders
and footmen an equal height. This deviation from life {isokephalia) we have
noticed in early Greek art, where, however, it was most crudely employed.
Here the archaic tradition is retained without its suggestion of untruth and
exaggeration. This height of the figures, besides, is often used to express dis-
tinctions of rank. Thus, the seated gods are larger than the standing figures
of men ; and, of the latter, the menials are smaller than the rest. Among the
youths, the grooms are smaller than their masters. The relief was doubtless
enhanced by a background of color ; and many of the appurtenances, such as
the trappings, the olive-branches, and attributes of the gods, were of bronze.
A difference is noticeable between different parts of the frieze in the excel-
lence of the carving, and use of these adjuncts. In many cases, that of the
south side is sketchy and unfinished, several of the horses having their manes
simply blocked out. On the west frieze, the first marshal is inferior to all the
other figures ; while the horse, brushing off a fly, seems scarcely to belong
among the rest, so meagre are his proportions. A few of the limbs of men
and horses were, evidently, first made too slight, and the mistakes afterwards
remedied, in part, by tracing a deep outline around the faulty parts, and by
cutting the background away, as in the case of a youth of the west side, with a
broad-brimmed hat, and bridling his horse. But the skilfulness of execution of
these reliefs, as a whole, is astonishing, especially when we consider that they
were probably carved after the slabs were built into the temple-walls, and not,
according to the custom now prevalent, in the sculptor's convenient studio.
This is indicated by parts of figures on different slabs, which could not have
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EAST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON.
349
been matched so exactly had they been carved separately, as well as by the
analogy of other ancient works ; as, for instance, the sculptures of the Zeus
temple at Olympia, and the reliefs of the Nereid monument,
which also bear marks of having been executed on the wall.
This manner of working doubtless accounts for much of the
delightful harmony in composition and detail which makes
this picture of a bringing of offerings one of the sublimest
of votive sculptures to the gods.
THE PEDIMENTS.
But leaving this charming, quiet scene, where Athenians
are seen doing honor to their divinities, and which encircled
the ^^//<2-walls, let us consider the sculptures in the pedi-
ments of the temple. The front of the Parthenon faced the
east, where lay the mountains and plain of Attica ; while its
opposite end looked off over the sparkling bay, where the
ships passed in and out. Pausanias saw the sculptures
raised high up in these two pediments ; but, with his pious
regard for myth alone, he only tells us, " that the sculptures
over the entrance all related to the birth of Athena, and
those at the other end to her successful contest with Po-
seidon for the possession of Attica," thus, we see, illustrat-
ing two great articles of faith in the Attic religion. ^^s In
these pediments, triangular spaces 28.36 meters (93 feet)
long, 3.456 meters (11 feet) high at the central and lofti-
est point, and 94 centimeters (about three feet) deep, were
no less than forty-four colossal statues in Pentelic marble.
Of these only fifteen large fragments are preserved, — thir-
teen of them being in the British Museum ; two, ruined al-
most beyond recognition, still in the pediment ; while many
other smaller fragments are divided between Athens and
London.
In the East Pediment, Pausanias saw represented the
birth of Athena ; but, alas ! a yawning gap, many feet long,
now occupies all its centre, as it did in Carrey's time, as
may be seen from his drawing (Fig. 156). Conjecture is
unable to charm back the creation of Pheidias, and tell us
how the mythical birth of the goddess was represented, —
whether Zeus here awaited the issue of his daughter from
his head, or whether she had already appeared, " golden, all
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Google
350
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
radiant, in warlike armor clad, the wonder of the assembled gods," as she is
described in Homeric hymn.^5« That Pheidias should have pictured the scene
in the naive style of old black-figured vases, where Athena, a puppet in full
armor, has half-way issued from the head of Zeus, while Hephaistos or Pro-
metheus stands by with the axe that has given the blow on the Thunderer's
head, is inconsistent with the prevailing style of the Parthenon sculptures.
Neither is it probable, judging from the excited fragments, that the porten-
tous moment before the birth was chosen when Athena was still awaited
The conjecture which has most in its favor is, that, "near her father, Pallas
Athena, all radiant," appeared, to rejoice the surrounding gods. In Madrid
a puteal has recently come to light which represents the scene more worthily
FiQ, 167. TM9 Birth of Athena. Part of a Relief from a Puteal. Madrid.
than any object hitherto discovered, and may perhaps remotely echo Pheidias*
composition, although varied from the sloping group of the pediment, and
adapted to a relief of equal width (Fig. 157).^^ Here Zeus is quietly seated ;
Athena glides rapidly away to his left, crowned by Nike ; and Hephaistos, or
more probably Prometheus, starts back astonished at the sight of what his blow
has brought forth. From the original central group of the Parthenon pediment,
one colossal torso, now in Athens, is the only fragment certainly preserved.
The powerful back, protruding shoulders, and upraised stumps of arms, can
have belonged only to him who gave the blow, — probably Prometheus. These
fragmentary arms suggest either the raising of the axe to give the blow which
should release Athena, or, more probably, the blow having been given, they are
checked in mid-air by the god, astonished at the sight of the " cerulean-eyed
goddess."
Concerning the remaining figures from the extremities of this pediment,
conjecture has been most busy. Twenty-one different theories, at least, exist ;
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EAST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 35!
but still the question must be considered unsettled. 667 One point is clear, that,
as on the pedestal of Pheidias* Zeus at Olympia, the rising Helios and sinking
Selene bounded the scene of Aphrodite's birth ; so here, on one side the fiery
steeds of Helios plunged snorting out of the water, and, on the other, those
of Selene watchfully descended into the deep (Fig. 156). Helios and his four
steeds occupied the extreme left of the pediment : two of the latter are still
in Athens, and two are in London. The horses are represented as coming up
out of the ocean, whose conventional marble-waves, doubtless once covered
with blue or golden color, still play about the god's neck and powerful arms,
which scarce control the fiery steeds of the breaking day, plunging impetu-
ously out of the depths into the ether above. They seem to shake from their
proud heads the ocean-foam, and we almost hear their impatient snort. Holes
in the mane, behind the ear, indicate that the bridle and reins were of metal.
The muscles of the arms which once held them are delicately but strongly
given, with a masterly tracery of veins, even on the inner unseen side. The
rhythm of the whole comes out, even when standing at the back of Helios, who
appears to be fairly drawn up out of the waves by his powerful steeds : while,
in front, the loss of his face detracts somewhat from the force of the motion.
At the other extremity of the pediment was Selene, the goddess of night, guid-
ing carefully her chariot on its downward way. Her head was turned, looking
back, thus uniting her with the rest of the group. Here, again, arms and head
are gone; but the body, bent forward, clad in the charioteer's costume, — a
long chit07i girded at the waist, and secured by straps across the chest, — indi-
cates her direction. A fluttering mantle, traces of which still exist, swelled
out behind, making clearer this idea of motion ; while the caution with which
she descended into unseen depths must have appeared in her form, bent watch-
fully forward, and arms extended, holding tightly the reins. Her steeds — one
in London and the other in Athens — seem shy of the dark abyss. The ani-
mated, protruding eye and distended nostril of the one in the British Museum
show intensity of watchful action.^* His head was dropped partly over the
cornice ; thus breaking, in a masterly manner, the rigid architectural lines. It
is marked by a strong, bony frame, length of proportion, and a subtle, delicate
treatment of the skin. Compared with horses' heads of both earlier and later
periods, — instance those from Olympia or the Mausoleum, — it is truly sub-
lime. In the earlier of these, though often natural and interesting, we are
continually reminded that the horses are of stone ; and, in those of later times,
there is a lack of ideality, suggesting forcibly the dray or war horse, thoroughly
subjected to the human will. But these fiery beasts of the Parthenon, we seem
to feel, could be controlled by superhuman hands alone.
But let us study the figures of the goddesses themselves, to the right and
left of the central group (Selections, Plate VI., and Fig. 156). A wind-fleet
figure first meets us, perhaps the rainbow Iris of Homeric verse, who, in her
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352 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
lightning speed, knew not time or space, and in art is usually represented as
winged. This goddess hastens, doubtless, to announce to all the joyous news
of Athena's birth. The head, as indicated by the break of the neck, was
turned towards the scene whence she came ; and, by this, her office of messen-
ger seems made plain. Her girlish, undeveloped form is beautifully echoed by
the simple folds of her chiton^ which cling to her breast, and, blowing out into
grand masses below, open on one side, revealing gracefully her limb and foot
still poised in air. This goddess catches her mantle, which, swollen by the
wind, seems to assume the significant form of a rainbow. The figure seated
next to her becomes aware that she approaches, joyfully intent on her distant
errand. At first glance it might seem as though this seated goddess raised her
arm in surprise, and is about to rise ; but her right foot, poised on the side,
shows that this cannot be the case, as will be readily perceived if the experi-
ment be tried. The raised arm probably held an attribute. The turn of the
head, traceable in the neck, and the whole movement of this seated figure,
reveal her interest in the good news, as she communicates it to her companion,
who sits with one hand in her lap, and one resting affectionately on the other's
shoulder, her head being turned as if to listen. These two seated goddesses
are possibly Demeter and Core, — that mother and daughter who enjoyed
especial honor in Attica. Both are seated, not on rocks, but square thrones,
over which is laid folded drapery ; and both wear the long, girded chiton of a
heavy material, which shows wondrously the majestic forms, as it falls in rich
folds over the bosoms and about the waists ; their mantles, apparently of the
same texture, and with a gently undulating border, utter a harmony inexpres-
sible in words, as they are thrown across the ample shoulders, and sweep
around the bended limbs in graceful and strong masses, affording, by lights
and deep shadows, a contrast delightful and restful to the eye. It is note-
worthy, that, for some unknown reason, the sculptor has seen fit, in the larger
of these figures, to contract the parts about the middle; so that the body
seems short, — a peculiarity met with in very many seated figures of Greek
art, and which we have noticed in the case of the relief of Philis (Selections,
Plate II.). Viewed from the back, this Parthenon group is no less attractive
than from the front. The round, mellow contours of the arms, which once fol-
lowed the slope of the pediment, contrast pleasantly with the upright sweep
of the drapery, and the quiet of the forms ; their significant pose revealing,
besides, the affection that existed between these goddesses.
Following these draped female forms, on a rocky elevation, over which is
thrown a skin, reclines a powerful, nude youth (Fig. 158), occupying that cor-
ner of the pediment where, as the chariot of Helios emerged from the waves,
his rays would first be cast (compare Fig. 156). This figure, of heroic build,
has been called, in turn, Theseus, Heracles, and Dionysos. But its vigorous
type and semi-active attitude seem most appropriate to the personification of
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EAST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 353
a mountain, thought by Brunn to be sacred Olympos, the local seat of the gods,
and scene of Athena's birth, illumined by the first rays of the rising sun.^
The head still rests upon the powerful shoulders, showing that manly beauty
belonging to Attic art in the time of Pheidias. The skull has those strong,
square proportions peculiar to intellectually superior races ; and the face, with
its fulness about the chin and cheeks, is a round oval, not the pointed one of
the iEginetan heads. The forehead is enlivened by a gentle projection of the
frontal bone above the nose, which, however, is not, as in later heads, extended
Fig. 168. A Seated Qod, perhaps Olympoa, from the South End of the Cast Pediment of the Parthenon. British Muemim,
towards the temples. There is no luxurious sweep of the lower jaw, as in the
Apollo Belvedere : it is more upright and chaste in its outlines. The neck is
strong and columnar, and quite suited to bear such a head. Contrast these
massive shoulders, this broad chest, with the liquid form of the well-known
river-god of the west pediment (Selections, Plate IV.), and the tremendous power
of this rocky character will appear. The harmony of its proportions is so sub-
tle and overpowering, that, though strict anatomical precision is sometimes dis-
regarded, as where one collar-bone is found to be shorter than the other, our
admiration is thereby only increased for the genius which has given the spirit
without being bound by the letter. One knee projected ten inches beyond the
cornice, thus breaking the architectural lines, which might have seemed too
rigidly to confine the composition ; while the other lines of the statue, as would
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THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
appear were the feet still attached, quietly fell in with those of the pediment
towards its declining angle. This form, of such ideal beauty and strength, has
inspired many modem sculptors, among whom none has better expressed its
sublimity than the great Dannecker, who wrote concerning it, " This statue is
so true to nature, that one is tempted to say the master must have formed
his model directly on the limbs and body of some beautiful youth ; and yet,"
he adds, " no such heroic youth ever meets us, or ever could have walked the
earth." 670
But the group of all groups occupies the opposite end of the pediment (Selec-
tions, Plate VI. and Figs. 156 and 159). These statues, like the Olympos, have
Fig, 160. Triad, perhaps the Clouds, from the North End of the East Pediment of the Parthenon. British Museum.
received many different names. The Fates, the daughters of Kecrops, Hestia,
Peitho, and Aphrodite, are some of them. But, again, Brunn offers so poetical
an interpretation, that we are tempted to receive it, especially as it harmonizes
with the character of the statues, and the place they occupy, next to Selene,
the goddess of night.671 He considers them personifications of the graceful,
fleeting clouds gathering about the setting sun. By a recent correction in the
placing of the reclining figure, in conformity with its original position in the
pediment, lines of unexpected beauty in the composition of Pheidias have been
revealed to us. These appear in the bended form and deeper shadows of the
central figure, as contrasted with the erect and lighter ones of the first, and
the flowing form of the third ; and this will best be seen in the phototype taken
from the group in its new position (Selections, Plate VI.). The figure nearest
the centre of the pediment, and looking towards the scene of Athena's birth,
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EAST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 355
seems to catch life from what there takes place, and is about to rise from her
rocky seat. She wears a fine, soft under-garment, which is rendered, even in
its larger oblique folds between the breasts, with masterly simplicity and grace.
Her heavier mantle, thrown around the form and across the lap, seems ready
to be lifted by the first gust, so easy is its fall. Each broad fold can be traced
to its faint beginning, and each deep shadow is as exquisitely rendered as
though done with a painter's subtle power. The glorious form of womanhood
in its perfect maturity is not lost in this drapery, but rather by it enhanced in
beauty. The grandeur of the shoulders, neck, and bended form, the natural
curve and ease of the remaining toe of the sandalled but shattered foot, reveal
how great is our loss in the lack of head and arms. The feeling of the living,
throbbing form under the drapery, as well as the harmonious contrast between
the large folds of the mantle and the finer tissues of the chiton^ are to be ob-
tained even from the back of the statue, — a view which could not have been
enjoyed when it was raised high up in its place in the pediment.
What inexpressible beauty marks the remaining figures of the triad ! Here
seems held up to view the intimacy of the gods. One, reclining, rests on the
bosom of a sister goddess, who, bending forward, draws in her feet to make
more easy the repose of her charge, besides encircling her with one arm.
How rich, in this statue, is the plastic truth in each detail ! and with what
enthusiastic love for his work has the sculptor carried the finish, to the deep-
est recesses about the feet, which, even as the statues now stand, are almost
lost to view, and must have been entirely beyond inspection when they were
elevated in the pediment! But, if these sister statues are so ravishing in
beauty, what shall be said of the reclining figure } When Carrey saw the
group, this goddess gazed off towards Selene's steeds, her very thought and
attitude in harmony with the quiet of coming evening, and gently suiting the
slope of the pediment. Majesty of form is here combined with ethereal grace,
re-echoed interminably in the countless quietly fluttering folds of the drapery.
There exists here a most subtle tenderness, as well as an exquisite harmony be-
tween the form and the folds through which the marble glows with life. Seen
in a fresh cast, with its unsullied lights and shadows deepening around the waist
and limbs, and growing broader and more quiet in the drapery thrown over the
rock, this group seems, not material, but a dream of beauty and queenly majesty
which must vanish from our sight. Viewed from whatever point, unlike most
groups of sculpture, new and charming lines reveal themselves. No fold is
laid simply to break an ugly line, or for effect ; but each falls as the nature
of the material requires, and each exquisite detail is held subordinate to
the higher ends of the work. So admirably are these sculptures adapted to the
unswerving architectural lines of the pediment, that even these seem made to
do the sculptor's bidding. The limitations placed upon Pheidias, as was the
case with Raphael in frescoing the Stanza of the Vatican, seem only to have 1
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356 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITO&
quickened and ennobled the play of his imagination. The symmetry striven
for in earlier Greek sculpture is most skilfully maintained in the composition,
but is veiled by such contrasts as the plunging steeds on one side over against
the cautious ones on the other, and the majestic nude Olympos counterpoised
by the fluttering drapery and delicious form of the gently reclining goddess at
the other end of the pediment.
In the West Pediment of the Parthenon, Pheidias represented another
favorite article of faith with the people of Attica. It concerned Athena's tak-
ing possession of their land. According to legend, both the "blue-eyed Pallas"
and broad-shouldered Poseidon desired to own the goodly land of Attica, and
to receive the worship of its people. A competition between the rival claim-
ants having been decided upon, an assemblage of the great gods, at which
Kecrops, the mythic king of Athens, was present, determined to give over
Attica in possession to the one who should confer the greatest blessing on
the land. Poseidon, swinging his trident with those arms which compelled the
sea to obedience, struck the adamantine rock of the Acropolis, and on its sum-
mit, five hundred feet above the bay, a salt-water spring welled up, which felt
the tides and storm of the ocean below. According to still other story, a horse
also sprang from the rock. What greater wonder was there then left for the
goddess to perform ? She now showed her power, but combined with benefi-
cence, and caused a fruitful olive-tree to spring up on the rocky height of
the Acropolis, the parent-stem of all Attica's olive-groves. Her gift, promis-
ing wealth in house and store, won the day over Poseidon ; and the land was
awarded to Athena. According to one story, she immediately took posses-
sion; Poseidon withdrawing to the seas, where, in his rage, he mercilessly
lashed the Attic shores, causing marshes to cover much of the land. Athena's
tree, within the precincts of her temple, was honored through all generations,
and was said, miraculously, never to have shed its leaves, and, even when
burned to the ground by the Persians, to have shot forth long branches in a
single night, — a sign that the goddess had not forsaken her people. Posei-
don's salt-spring was also long protected by a second temple on the Acropolis,
tokens of the double miracle being thus preserved to late times.
How Pheidias represented this myth, and who were the witnesses to the
strife, are questions the solution of which conjecture has sought to wring from
the fragments now even less complete than those of the east pediment. When
Carrey, in 1674, saw the sculptures, they were, however, far more complete; and,
with the aid of his drawing (Fig. 160), we gain much light upon the general
composition. From the drawing, we see, in the middle of the pediment, Athena
and Poseidon moving in opposite directions. Fragments of an olive-tree, found
on the Acropolis, indicate that the miracle had already been performed, and that
the tree probably stood between them. Athena's chariot and steeds were seen
by Carrey, suggesting that the antagonists were withdrawing to their chariots
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WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON.
357
on each side ; but Poseidon's corresponding steeds were already gone, and they
must needs be supplied to counterpoise those of Athena's on the opposite side.
This would be required by the Greek sense of symmet-
rical composition, and harmonizes with the Homeric
pictures of the gods, as always attended by their char-
iots when going into conflict. Careful study on the
part of Overbeck and Lange, in 1879, of the fragments
in London, and of casts from other fragments in Athens,
has finally decided the much-vexed question of Posei-
don's steeds.^72 They were not semi-sea monsters, but
complete horses with four hoofs. Fragments of good
size, adapted to the wall of the pediment, were the
treasures which gave the key to this secret. Whether
Poseidon's salt-spring appearing at his feet was also
represented, and whether he was accompanied by an
upspringing horse, it is impossible to say with cer-
tainty. It is probable, however, that only the spring
was represented; since the space would hardly have
admitted a third horse in addition to the two of Posei-
don's chariot.^73 Of the majestic, excited form of
Athena, which must have been well-nigh 3.35 meters
(eleven feet) high, the powerful shoulders, now in the
British Museum, alone exist. These shoulders and full
form are clad in rich drapery, over which the cegis^
folded like a narrow band, passes obliquely across the
bosom, its lower edge scalloped, and having holes where
once bronze serpents' heads were doubtless attached.
How different this weapon on this majestic, threaten-
ing figure of the goddess from that worn by her in
early representations, where its ugly shape covers
much of her bosom, and all of her shoulders; and
even from the cegis on the shoulders of Pheidias' own
Athena Parthenos ! From a fragment of the neck re-
cently discovered, it is clear that Athena turned towards
her formidable antagonist ; but, unhappily, no parts of
her head are preserved. A head of harsh archaic forms
and wiry hair, as though executed in bronze, was once
thought to belong to this figure, but has long since
been rejected ; as these pedimental sculptures are all
eminently true to the technique of marble, and without
a .breath of archaic conventionalism or stiffness.
Just beyond Athena reared her steeds, impatient to
'^^\
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te,
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358 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
depart. The tragic fate which met them, on being lowered from the pediment
by the Venetians, has already been alluded to. Fragments, casts of which are
in the Elgin room, powerful even in their ruin, still await re-adjustment, if that
be possible. Athena's charioteer, perhaps Nike, has perished ; but the torso
of the youth accompanying her, thought to be Hermes, and who is often repre-
sented on vases as attending Athena's chariot, is preserved in the Elgin room.
This powerful athletic frame, in intense action, with drapery still clinging to the
back, is a most interesting counterpart to the Olympos of the east pediment,
who is equally strong, but in perfect repose. Thus Athena, Poseidon, and the
chariots, filled up gloriously the centre of the pediment ; making, as it were,
the ruling strain in this powerful symphony transferred into enduring marble.
To the right of Athena's chariot came many figures, all sharing in the excite-
ment emanating from the centre. These have received many conjectural names,
Brunn supposing them to personify the cliffs and shores of Attica. The older
and more generally accepted theory, however, is, that they are Attic gods.
Following Carrey's drawings, we find that the first group was composed of two
females, — which have been called Demeter and Core, — and a child in excited
motion, — perhaps lacchos. Of this group no trace is left; while the next, which
consists of a youthful female and an elderly man, on whose shoulder she leans,
is still in the pediment, but is so sadly mutilated, that its forms are barely recog-
nizable. The coil of a serpent, seen under the right of the group, may be intended
to characterize here either the earth-born Kecrops with one of his daughters,
or Asclepios with Hygieia, all of whom were worshipped in Attica.
Beyond this group is a space, which in Carrey's drawing is left vacant, but,
in one made by Dalton, is filled by a crouching figure, perhaps a local nymph.
In the extreme corner reclines a local river-god, whose glorious form is now in
the British Museum (Selections, Plate IV.). From his beautifully extended
form, this figure is supposed to represent the Kephissos, a stream which
flows in a direct course through the north of Attica, from Mount Kithairon to
the sea. The figure of this Attic river-god seems confined to its rocky base,
like running waters within their bed; but, catching the excitement rippling
out to him from the stormy centre, he raises himself up on one arm. The
elevation of the shoulders and knees, alternating with the sinking of the body
and the retreating legs, suggest well the wavy lines of water. The very dra-
pery, slipping from the arm, lies on the marble as though floating helplessly
upon water ; and the straight line of the thigh, almost melting into one with
the base, goes to enhance the ideal of a river-god. The contrast between this
liquid form, with all its softness, and exquisite treatment of skin, and the
massive, rocky, firm frame of the Olympos of the opposite pediment, shows a
degree of skill in characterization scarcely to be met with elsewhere in the
whole range of ancient sculpture.
Turning from this jubilant retinue of Athena, to Poseidon and his followers
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WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 359
in the opposite side of the pediment, we shall find, that, of the extant fragments
of the mighty torso of the god, parts are in London, and the remainder in
Athens. From Carrey's drawing, we judge that Poseidon drew back indig-
nant, and perhaps astonished, as he saw his rival's olive-tree spring from the
soil ; or else that he is retreating from her weapons. The mighty shoulders and
arm, the powerful front, and now dismembered portions of legs and foot, with
their distended muscles and swollen veins, speak most strongly the character
of him who lashed the seas to fury, and made the solid earth tremble at his
wrath. Here the mortal form, without being exaggerated, is intensified ; and
could this shattered trunk, these scattered fragments, be re-adjusted, what
tremendous and dire power they would express !
But few relics of Poseidon's retinue are left. His steeds are indicated to
us by well-nigh shapeless fragments. The draped figure which, according
to Carrey's drawing, accompanied this chariot, corresponding to the male
runner of the opposite side by Athena's chariot, is possibly preserved to us
in a fragment of a winged figure now in the British Museum, but by some
is thought to belong in the east pediment.^74 There can be little doubt
that it is Nike, the goddess of Victory, by reason of the signs of attach-
ment for wings in the back of the statue ; and, if Nike, we must suppose
her hastening to the side of the goddess with whom was victory. Her rapid
motion is shown by the sweep of her short chiton^ and the graceful poise of her
left knee, the recent adjustment of which, by Professor Newton, has greatly
enhanced the beauties of this fragmentary statue. Viewed from its left side,
a wealth of graceful motives and lines reveals itself, not seen in front, mak-
ing it probable that this Nike once faced the middle of the pediment. The
drapery, clinging to the form in consequence of the rapid motion, differs
essentially from that of the figures of the east pediment, having small, sharp
lines, resembling creases, over it, and indicating that different hands were
engaged on these statues. The torso of Poseidon's charioteer, doubtless the
sea-goddess Amphitrite, wearing a chiton girded by a broad belt, and bent
forward as if holding firmly the reins, still exists in the British Museum.
This fragment, like many others, must be seen alone to be fully appreciated ;
being lost, as it were, in the superabundance of beauty crowded into the Elgin
room.
Beyond Poseidon's chariot, we see, from the drawing, that there was a
seated female with a child beside her, perhaps Leucothea, and Palaimon, her
son. A fragment of the limbs of the sea-goddess Leucothea, with exquisitely
agitated drapery, like waters ruffled by a surface-wind, is now in the Elgin
room. Of the boy, a part of the left thigh only is preserved ; while three of
his fingers may be traced on the mother's right knee, resting on a bit of her
drapery. Besides these, there are other signs on the mother's form that the
child faced her right side, and pressed affectionately against her. The foUow-
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36o THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOa
ing group, seen by Carrey, consisted of two seated draped females, one of
whom supported on her lap another, a nude companion, while beside them
was a child ; but, of these, only one small fragment is preserved, being a part
of the first draped seated figure. These are, perhaps, a Nereid and Thalassa,
who bears the nude Aphrodite accompanied by her son Eros. That this Aphro-
dite, the only known nude female form in sculpture of the time of Pheidias,
although in vases frequently met, is gone, is an irreparable loss ; as it would
have taught us how that sublime age represented this difficult subject.
In the remoter comer are two local gods, — the first a crouching river-god,
now in Athens, whose position is thought to represent the crooked windings of
the Ilissos in the south of Attica ; while the adjoining recumbent figure of the
extreme corner is thought to represent the sacred spring Callirrhoe, which in
reality takes its rise in the bed of the Ilissos.
Glancing at the composition of this pediment, as preserved to us by Carrey,
we find strict symmetry, but veiled so as scarcely to be recognized. The action
does not flow outward, as in the very ancient Megara pediment at Olympia; nor
does it flow inward, as in the iEgina marbles, or seem confused, as in the west
pediment at Olympia, but combines with greatest clearness most varied move-
ments. The rise and fall is such, that it seems altogether independent of the
stern architectural lines bounding it ; and the diagonal lines of the sculpture
break the impression of threatening weight made by the sloping eaves of the
cornice. Of all the heads seen by Carrey, not one is with certainty preserved
to us. One marble head sadly restored, now in Paris, from the Venetian col-
lection of San Gallo, Morosini's private secretary, is thought by some to ap-
proach the Parthenon sculptures in character ; but its deeply set eyes, dimpled
chin, loosely falling hair, and pathetic expression, are strong reasons for be-
lieving that it belongs to the century after Pheidias. Doubtless the head of the
draped Aphrodite, now in Berlin, and which we have associated with Alcamenes*
name, Plate II., comes nearer to what these heads must have been ; showing us,
in its grand reserve and exquisite tenderness, a style quite worthy of these
torsos, and very like that of the preserved heads of the frieze.
In looking over both pedimental groups, we find, that, while different hands
must have been employed in the execution of the individual statues, there is not
that great difference in excellence which characterized the iEginetan pediments.
Many Attic sculptors of this time must have been possessed of astonishing
skill in carrying out conceptions, emanating, we must believe, from one master-
mind, whose imagination here displays a richness of creative power unsurpassed.
This imagination conceived, as we have seen, the strong youth in action and
repose ; the queenly beauty draped, reclining or seated ; the girlish form in
swift motion ; nude and draped female shapes, leaning forward, and guiding
proud steeds; children, river-gods, and the shapes of the powerful "earth-
shaker," and others of the mighty gods; while it has blended all into har-
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WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 36 1
monious composition, like to that of a sublime symphony in music. The
architectural difficulties to be surmounted were the same as in the pediments
of the iEginetan temple or in those at Olympia. There we found symmetry
marred by monotony. Here we have found it, but so subtly veiled, as only to
be perceived after careful scrutiny. In iEgina and Olympia we found human,
here godlike, shapes, which, to use Newton's words, "seem the result of a
generalization so profound, that, in contemplating them, we almost forget that
they are the product of human thought, and executed by human hands : they
seem to reveal to us the very archetypes of form, such as we might conceive
to dwell in the mind of a divine Creator." ^75 In every colossal form the
importance of the framework, that prime essential of true sculpture, is felt and
expressed with marvellous truth, even where it might least be expected, as in
the lax frame of the river-god. The massive shoulders are not out of propor-
tion to the waist : the head is not too small, nor the limbs too long, as was
found to be the case in the iEginetan and Olympia art. The rounded mus-
cles, in which the harsh outlines of older art have disappeared, seem capable
of expansion, and are clearly distinguished from the sinewy tendons as about
the knees and elbows. Sculptural truth, essentially opposed to slurring or
slovenly treatment, is, moreover, obvious in all the details. The skin, with its
delicate tracery of veins, and subtle, adipose tissue like a half-transparent veil,
at once conceals and reveals the sharp, underlying forms, and in each varying
part has its natural character ; so in the inside of the hand, how different from
on the outside ! and over the muscles most in action, how different from over
those usually in repose ! Note but the folds of skin of the Olympos or Ke-
phissos : with what a bold treatment and handling of the chisel do they seem,
with a few strokes, to stand perfect before our eyes I Seek through the statu-
ary of Roman times swarming the galleries, or gaze even at the newly found
Pergamon marbles, which, with an astonishing bravour in technique, show a
greater monotony of skin and surface, and the equals of these Parthenon works
will not be found. The rich, full life in these marbles, expressed in form and
surface, raises them high above such cold academic woiks as the Apollo Belve-
dere, in praise of which Winckelmann said, —
" Coursing veins warm not this frame to living glow,
Nor sinewy joints impart the rich, harmonious flow ; "
for these marbles have revealed a far higher and truer standard than the works
with which the great pioneer of archaeology was familiar. This rendition of
the skin, and gentler forms about . the muscles, is, moreover, never marred by
laxity or superabundant fat, often to be met with in the best colossal works of
later times : instance the celebrated Torso Belvedere of the Vatican, in which
we look in vain for energetic expression in the flabby blending of outlines.
Contrasted with the more energetic Laocoon, we find here no exaggeration of
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362 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
single muscles into " small hills," as is the case with that excited, struggling
group ; and, compared with the marbles of the Pergamon altar, there is a subtle
discrimination in the use of artistic means, which grows upon one the longer
the details are studied
The mechanical movements of the iEginetan figures here give place to intense
throbbing life, echoed even by the folds of the drapery. In this, the advance is
greater, if possible, even than in the nude. In earlier works, the drapery had
failed to reflect every play of muscle or motion, which is, however, done here,
and without caprice or superficiality. The folds obey the laws which control
their texture. As that is heavy or light, they fall, or fly out on the wind. But
they do not yet seem executed on their own account, being only present to
heighten the beauty of the form. Thus, no mere accidentals of surface appear.
There are no squarely broken corners where the drapery turns, eyes (occAi), as
the Italians call them ; nor wrinkles on its plain surfaces, as in drapery of the
next century, striving to make stone a nearer counterfeit of real cloth : instance
the folds of Praxiteles' Hermes. In short, there is in the drapery of the Par-
thenon a sublime simplicity and reserve of treatment, a dignity and truth of
line, never elaborated or arranged for commonplace effect. Thus it receives a
look almost severe, when contrasted with the extreme refinement of treatment
in the following ages.
But a regard for what may be called a pictorial impression in these marbles
enhances the subtle variety of their lines, their peculiar lights and shades adapt-
ing them admirably to be the united decoration of a temple pediment. By its
working they are prevented from having the too statuesque and isolated look
of the iEginetan works ; and by a wise limitation, all blurred, or too pictorial,
effects, as in the west pediment at Olympia, are also avoided.
With all the fascinating naturalness pervading these statues, it were vain to
seek for signs that they were copied from nature, as she happens to present
herself to the sculptor's eye. Here nature seems purged of all the dross of
daily life. No unsuitable or commonplace positions, or accidental movements,
are introduced, as we have found was done in the marbles of the Olympia tem-
ple. Even in the forms of the reclining figures, as, for instance, of the careless,
lounging river-god, while nothing could exceed the naturalness of the position,
an unsurpassed elegance and noble dignity pervade it, showing how under
Pheidias' touch what went before became transfigured.
Whence came this great and marvellous advance in the forms of Attic
sculpture, is a question which has often been asked. It is well known, that
every artist owes more than can be told to those who have gone before. As
Raphael had his Perugino, and Michel Angelo his Luca Signorelli, so, doubt-
less, Pheidias had his important predecessors ; but who they were, is one of
the problems which presents itself for solution. Possibly of Ageladas, Pheidias
learned Peloponnesian correctness, and of Polygnotos, the great Thasian painter.
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WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON. 363
and his fellows in Olympia, a regard for the pictorial ; but doubtless it was his
own towering Attic genius which gave the crowning to the art of this Golden
Age in Greek sculpture.
In regarding the exquisite finish of these Parthenon marbles, we may recall
the words of the great German sculptor Rietschl.^76 ** Every time I call to
mind the fact, that the backs of the Parthenon statues are as perfectly finished
as the front, I am not only filled with wonder and admiration, but deeply
touched. I realize that the master knew, that, when the statues had passed out
of his hand and workshop, no human eye could ever peer away up to see the
hidden beauties which his love and labor had created ; while to us is permitted,
after two thousand years have elapsed, more by happy chance than the neces-
sary course of history, to look upon these love-offerings of a genuine artist-
soul." The question irresistibly arises, why so much time and labor was
expended on those parts of the statues which should not be seen when once in
place. The Attic sculptors evidently worked with that lofty impulse which
created what was, that it should be good. The same spirit seems eloquently
to speak to us from the giddy heights of Gothic cathedrals, where the stone
flowers and leaves are as perfectly cut as those on a level with the eye. So
the gentle floweret of the wilderness, never to be looked upon by mortal, oft-
times has beauty as winning as that of its cherished sister of the garden. The
loving conscientiousness witnessed in the execution of these noble works of
ancient Greece is an expression of the true and beautiful in man's nature,
seeking to satisfy the lofty claims of his higher self, and manifesting its ability
so to do.
In the Parthenon marbles, the charm is not made dependent upon the choice
of the materials used. The iEginetan works, as well as those at Olympia, are in
the more brilliant and costly Parian marble, these in the cheaper Attic stone,
often defective in grain and color. Haydon, the English sculptor, said of them,
"Were these marbles lost, or had they been burned for mortar, there would
have been left a gap in art as great as there would have been in philosophy
had Newton never lived." Dannecker, the German sculptor, exclaimed, " In
these marbles all is truth, — the highest truth!" The Italian, Canova,
when asked to restore them, replied, " It would be a wanton sacrilege were I,
or any one else, to touch these marbles with a chisel. — Every piece breathes
life with truth, and an extraordinary mastery of the art which never parades
itself."
But, while the forms rouse such enthusiasm, the united thought of the Par-
thenon marbles, expressed in treble structure, as in the tragedies of iEschylos,
is no less sublime. Like great harmonies blending in some vast symphony,
appear in the pediments the relation of the goddess to her land, in the metopes
her battle for law and order, and, in the frieze, the honors offered by li^AS^9v>
364 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
ful people. Could we imagine these matchless forms in their Attic home,
shaded by the marble roof of the Parthenon, or looking down from among its
faultless pillars; could we charm before us violet-hued Hymettos, and the
depths of the overarching azure; could we feel the gentle breezes from the
blue sea, and behold the Greek sun bathing all with golden light, — then
should we realize what met the eye of the Athenian of old, and inspired his
thoughts as he devotedly ascended his sacred mountain : then should we feel
in our own souls what transcendent ideals were charmed into adequate and
glorious material forms by the Pheidian age.
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CHAPTER XX.
ATTIC SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C.
{concluded),
Thescion at Athens.— The Subjects of its Metopes.— The Subjects of its Frieze.— The Erechtheion.
— Its Inscriptions and Sculptural Remains. — Its Portico. — The Caryatidse. — Temple of Nike
Apteros. — Its Frieze. — Description of its Reliefs. — Comparison with the Theseion — Balustrade
of Temple of Nike Apteros. — Its Reliefs. — Their Style — Influence on Later Works. — Votive
Reliefs of this Age. — Reliefs on South Side of Acropolis from Shrine to Asdepios and his Asso-
ciate Gods. — Humbler Monuments from these Shrines. — Description of some of the Earliest of
these Shrines. — Cause of their Rarity. — Reliefs on Public Tablets. — Sources of their Designs.
— Tombstones. — Stele from Peiraieus.
With great pomp and religious festivities Kimon, in 469 B.C., brought
back, from far-off Skyros, the bones of the Attic hero Theseus, recognized, as
was said, by their heroic size, and gave them a worthy resting-place in Attica.
In connection with this act, he founded a temple to Theseus, — a building
which, as some suppose, still forms one of the attractions of modem Athens,
now turned into a museum (Fig. i6i)fiTf The age of this building and of its
sculptures has been a matter of great controversy; but 'it is now generally
believed, on account of similarity in style and treatment of subject, that they
are about contemporary with the Parthenon. The pediments were once adorned
with sculptures, which have, however, altogether disappeared, leaving only
traces of their points of attachment, but showing that they were completed
before the roof was put on.678 The ten metopes of the east front, as well as
the four down each side, are still attached to the building, and have sculptures
in very high relief in Parian marble. ^79 The remaining fifty metopes were
without carving, but probably painted. In the sculptural slabs, which are much
injured, nine of the labors of Heracles are recognized, in one case one scene
occupying two metopes. We see the hero (i) wrestling with the Nemean lion,
(2) fighting the Lemaian Hydra, (3) overtaking the swift stag, (4) bringing
to the hiding Eurystheus the Erymanthian boar, (5) mastering Diomedes'
horses, (6) bringing Kerberos out of the under-world, (7) securing the gir-
dle of the Amazon, Jlippolyte. The eighth and ninth metopes are occupied
by the triple-bodied Geryon ; and, in the tenth, Heracles gets the apples of
Hesperides. The remaining metopes, eight in number, relate to the deeds
of Theseus, pre-eminently an Attic hero. One of the best preserved of these
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366
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
represents his struggle with the ox-headed Minotaur, who yearly devoured in
the Cretan labyrinth Attic youths and maidens, sent as a propitiatory offering,
until Theseus destroyed the monster. On another the hero appears overpower-
ing the wild steer which had wasted the fields of Marathon, and was carried
off alive an offering to Apollo. In still another a close struggle takes place
between Theseus and Kerkyon, son of Poseidon, who lived at Eleusis, and,
by his new mode of wrestling, had overcome and put to death all passers-by. ^^
In this relief Theseus, raising the evil-doer from the ground, strangles him
with powerful grasp. Kerkyon offers resistance by catching at Theseus' neck
with one hand, and at his ankle with the other. The compact, almost statu-
esque, grouping here has suggested to some what we know of Myron's statues.
Fig. 161. The Temple of Theaeua. Athena.
and is hardly in keeping with the usual system of Greek relief, a large portion
of the surface being left unpleasantly vacant. In still another metope, Theseus
is represented as wreaking just vengeance on Skiron, the highway robber, who
forced travellers to wash his feet on the brink of a fearful precipice near Me-
gara, and, while they kneeled before him, pushed them over backwards into the
raging sea, where a huge tortoise devoured their mangled limbs. On this
metope we see the robber, who, pushed by Theseus, is falling backwards over
the brink, with his feet still in air, — a picture of helplessness, strongly con-
trasted to the stability of his conqueror.
Two friezes in high relief encircled the pronaos and opisthodomos of this
temple, about 4.27 meters (fourteen feet) above the head of the spectator, the
one on the west end having only two-thirds of the length of that on the east.^^
The subject of the western or shorter frieze is the fierce combat between the
centaurs and Lapithae at the wedding of Peirithoos. It opens at one end with
a centaur raising high a rock to bring it down upon his fallen enemy, who
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FRIEZE OF THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS.
367
can offer no other resistance than his mantle ; this group strongly resembling
one of the Parthenon metopes. A Lapith, who seems to have relinquished
the struggle as hopeless, hastens from this group to assist a comrade engaged
with a centaur who rolls on his equine back in a startling and unpleasant
manner; while still another centaur, swinging a tree-trunk, comes gallop-
ing up to assist in the fray. The following group is most interesting, on
account of its frequency and typical rendering in Greek art. Two centaurs
1
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Ftg. 162. A Part of the West Frieze of the Temple of Theseus, Athens.
rear high above a hero whom they are burying alive. One-half of his body
is already below ground ; and the huge rock they raise above him will soon fall
and cover him completely, in spite of his raised shield. This hero is the invul-
nerable Caineus, whom, because the centaurs could not wound, they buried alive
deep in the earth, where he continued to live forever. This same grouping
appears in the frieze at Phigaleia, and in the recently discovered Lykian tomb
at Gjolbaschi. In the remainder (Fig. 162), a Lapith with trailing garment
seems rushing by a centaur to help one of his mates who has fallen on his
knees, and is in close but doubtful combat with one of the brutes. Again,
a tall, helmeted warrior attacks a centaur from behind rearing over a fallen and
beautiful youth.
The subject of the east frieze, over the entrance, is a combat in the pres-
Flg. 163. Part of the East Frieze of the Temple of Theseus. Athens.
ence of six seated gods, three on each side. A part of this frieze, including
the group of the gods on one side, and one-half of the combat between them,
is represented in Fig. 163 ; and the remaining gods of the opposite side, on a
larger scale, are seen in Fig. 164. The subject of this contest is a matter
of controversy ; some thinking that it represents the destruction by Theseus of
the sons of Pallas, here using rocks for weapons, and who, when Theseus came
to Attica, sought to wrest from him his rightful kingdom.^* Brunn, however,
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368
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS
believes that here the Athenians, under Theseus, fight against Eurystheus, the
Skironian pass being assailed, a boundary stone between Attica and the Pelo-
ponnesos being set up, and Eurystheus led away a prisoner.^3 In the very
centre of the frieze, the first figure to the left (Fig. 163) is doubtless Theseus
himself, with drapery trailing to the ground. The sculptures are, unfortu-
nately, much injured ; but with the aid of Stuart's drawings, made in the early
part of this century, two of the divinities may be identified, — the helmeted
Athena, who converses with the veiled Hera seated beside her, and appear-
ing in Fig. 164. Zeus and Poseidon are probably also in this frieze, and, with
the remaining unknown gods, eagerly watch the contest. Beyond the gods,
at the ends of the eastern frieze, on both sides, bound prisoners are being led
away.
The gods are here seated in separate groups on each side of the central
Fig, 164. One Oroup of Ooda in Vie £cut Frieze of the Tern pie of Jheeeue, Athene.
scene, as in the Parthenon frieze ; and there is so unmistakable a kinship in
the composition and style of the sculptures of the two temples, that there can
be little doubt that the same art-spirit inspired both.
The venerated Erechtheion on the Acropolis, which had sheltered Athena's
wooden idol and olive, and under the pavement of which fable buried the heroes,
Erechthonios and Kecrops, had been destroyed during the Persian wars, but
rose again, in the time of religious fervor and great material prosperity, a jewel
of Ionic, as the Parthenon was of Attic-Doric, architecture, and is beautiful in
its ruins. It was a complex building, differing from any other known Greek
temple. According to inscriptions found on the Acropolis, some of its sculp-
tures were not completed until 409 B.C., four years before the closing of the
Peloponnesian war. ^4 Parts of a frieze, as well as graceful figures supporting
a portico, and inscriptions, give us a glimpse of what its sculptures must have
been. These inscriptions comprise building accounts carved in marble, and put
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CARYATIDS OF THE ERECHTHEION. 369
up on the Acropolis, which contain names of workmen, whence they came, the
objects they executed, and the pay they received. In their fragmentary condi-
tion the inscriptions read about as follows : "There were paid in the jthfrytatiy
to , who lives in Collytos, for chariot and two mules, ninety drachms (about
eighteen dollars) ; to Agathanor, who lives in Alopeke, for the woman by the
chariot and both mules, ; for the boy who holds the spear, sixty drachms
(twelve dollars) ; to Phyromachos, the Kephisian, for the youth by the armor,
sixty drachms (twelve dollars) ; to Praxias, who lives in Melite, for the horse, and
one appearing behind him, rearing, one hundred and twenty drachms (twenty-
four dollars) ; to Antiphanes, the Keramite, for the chariot, and two horses
attached to it, and youth, two hundred and forty drachms ; to Phjrromachos, the
Kephisian, for him who leads a horse, sixty drachms ; to Myrion, who lives in
Argyle, for the horse, and man striking him, and the stele added later, one
hundred and twenty-seven drachms ; to Soclos, who lives in Alopeke, for the
holder of the bridle, sixty drachms ; to Phyromachos, the Kephisian, for the
man leaning on his staff, and standing by the altar, sixty drachms ; to lasos,
the Collytian, for the woman before whom a girl has thrown herself, eighty
drachms, — the whole sum of the sculptures in this ptytany, thirty-three hun-
dred and fifteen drachms." From this informal, simple record, we see that the
subjects of this frieze of the Erechtheion, calling to mind the riders and chariots
of the Parthenon, could not have been of a mythic character : the figures are
mentioned simply as man, youth, woman, and maiden. That these scenes were
connected with worship, is indicated by the altar mentioned. It is evident, also,
from the inscriptions, that both citizens and aliens were engaged as workmen
on these friezes ; but among high artists they evidently could not have been
reckoned. As we look at the fragments,^5 even in their ruin we are astonished
at their harmonious beauty, and brought to realize how artistic skill seems to
have been in the common air of Attica at this glorious time. Among these
fragments is an exquisite seated figure, in which we hardly know whether to
admire more the execution of the nude, or the grace and dignity of the drapery.
But, unhappily, these reliefs were not chiselled in the usual manner out of a
solid block : the figures were first cut in a coarse variety of Attic marble, and
then fastened one by one on to a background of dark Eleusinian stone, with
bronze nails, some of which are still in the fragments of the architrave, — a
mode of working which has hastened destruction.
Happily, this frieze does not comprise all the preserved sculptures of the
Erechtheion. At one end stood an airy portico, supported by six figures, repre-
senting, according to the inscription, al Kopai (the maidens).^^ Three of these
have stood faithful to their duty down to the present day; the fourth was
knocked over during the Venetian bombardment, but was re-adjusted in 1846;
the fifth was likewise found prostrate, and restored in 1837; and the sixth was
removed by Lord Elgin to London. In its place now stands a cast frona the
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370 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
original in the British Museum, surrounding an iron support. Thus the six
glorious maidens once more appear, bearing aloft the light architrave of the
temple-porch (Fig. 165). They doubtless echo to us the idea embodied in the
Athenian girls chosen to bear baskets containing sacrificial utensils in the sacred
procession. The strength and grace of youth mark their erect attitude in
the support of the basket-like capital, and are seen to the best advantage in the
single figure (Selections, Plate VII.). The shoulders are thrown back, one limb
is slightly bended, and the other planted firmly on the ground. The massive
build of the shoulders, the widely expanded breasts, high on the chest, are
marked peculiarities in the rendering of the female form during this age.
They are clearly remnants of the conventional archaism of earlier times, in
which these features are unnaturally pronounced ; in later art, as in the Venus
of Melos, such robust and vigorous forms give place to a more natural, a softer
and more melting, beauty. A full chitouy with a short diploidion, drops over the
shoulders, echoing the form of the expanded bosom. At the waist the chiton is
caught up so as to make a graceful puff, and thence falls in broad surfaces over
the unfreighted limb, and in deep furrows over the other, suggesting by lines
of light and quiet shadow a fluted column. The uncovered arms and neck form
a beautiful contrast to the channelled and ruffled drapery. One hand seems to
have caught up the lower end of the mantle falling from the shoulder down
the back, but the other appears to have hung quietly at the side. The very
arrangement of the hair enhances the impression of easy bearing. The regular
lines of a braid rise from the brow, interrupting the wavy locks on each side ;
and on the top of the head are coiled two heavy braids, on which rests the
basket-shaped capital. The introduction of coils and basket gives an impres-
sion of ease which would have been wanting had the ponderous architrave rested
directly on the girlish heads. Rich tresses fall down the back, caught together
a part of the way down in a ring; while stray curls drop forward over the
shoulder in lines that give solidity to the dignified pose of the head. Let us
note the beautiful build of the faces of these maidens, especially of the one
in the British Museum (Selections, Plate VII.). In the shape of the graceful
forehead, and treatment of the closely waving hair, we shall find a general
resemblance to the beautiful head of the Aphrodite of the Berlin Museum
(Plate II.), described above, and a noble sample of the treatment of the female
face in Attic art at this time.
In these maidens we have the first known case in Greek sculpture where
the human form fully supplants a member of the architecture ; but how success-
fully this is accomplished without detriment to the real character, either of the
statue or of the building ! The Greeks have taught us of what prime impor-
tance for the highest architectural harmony it is that every member should
not only actually perform its office, but also appear to accomplish it, and that
with ease and grace. Thus, here capital and column are formed y^ithasubtle
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SCULPTURES OF THE ERECHTHEION.
371
wisdom which both makes them bear the superimposed weight, and also satis-
fies the eye perfectly with the manner in which the burden is carried. Of these
maidens of the Erechtheion, the eminent architect, Viollet-le-Duc, says, " The
elegant forms of these statues are imprinted with a character so marked by
solidity and ampleness, that columns themselves would appear less capable of
Fig, 166. Portico of the Erechtheion* Athene.
supporting." 687 Taken as a whole, with what admirable symmetry are they
adapted to the place they occupy ! Three of these figures, to the beholders'
left, have at rest the left leg, and the other three the right. By this means,
they all appear to incline slightly towards the interior of the edifice ; but the
drapery on their opposite sides so falls as to produce a slightly swelling outline
about the middle of the figure, resembling the entasis of a column, and increas-
ing the impression of stability. At the same time, the division of the enta|)g{^
372 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
lature by bands and ornaments, less ponderous than usual, gives the burden
an appearance of lightness, suited to the graceful bearers. The impression
left by these maidens, as they still stand supporting the temple portico, is that
of the dignity and seriousness of those who perform a work of religious devo-
tion, while their glorious marble forms reveal, on the part of the sculptor, the
keenest sense for aesthetic truth.
Besides the Attic-Doric Parthenon and Ionic Erechtheion, there was raised
on the Acropolis, during this golden age of Attic art, the so-called temple
of Nike Apteros, a little gem of Ionic architecture, whose sculptures have
happily been preserved. That rocky prominence of the Acropolis jutting out
towards the south, where old Aigeus had watched for the sails of his son The-
seus returning from Crete, was sacred to Athena, under her special title of
Athena Nike, or Victory. Here Pausanias saw a diminutive temple, which he
misleadingly calls the temple of Nike Apteros, or wingless Nike, thus repre-
sented, according to his story, that she might never fly away, and desert her
people. ^8 But, according to other authors, there can be no doubt that the
building was sacred to Athena herself as Nike, a part of the Erechtheion hav-
ing been sacred to her as Polias.^
In 1676 the English traveller Wheler saw this small temple, and wrote of it,
" The architrave hath a Basso-relievo on it of little Figures well cut, and now
serveth the Turks for a Magazine of Powder.*' ^90 Less than one hundred years
later, in 1751, Stuart found no trace whatever of the temple, except a few signs
of the foundations, and a few sculptured slabs built into an adjacent powder-
magazine. These four slabs of the "little Figures well cut," Lord Elgin
removed to England, where they now adorn the British Museum.69» In our
century, in 1835, Ross, the German archaeologist, caused the Turkish battery
on the Acropolis to be cleared away, and was rewarded by finding many more
sculptures, besides architectural fragments ; so that he and his colleagues were
enabled to charm the structure back into existence. And so again, although
without its pediments, it forms one of the most graceful features in the Athe-
nian landscape. 692 Bohn*s recent explorations prove, that the substructure of
this temple was built at the same time as that of the great propylaia^ or
entrance portico to the Acropolis, known from literature to have been erected
between 437 and 432 B.C.^3 This exquisite little temple (5.49 by 8.23 meters)
was then, doubtless, one of the last architectural achievements of Athens
before the Peloponnesian war broke upon her.
The Ionic frieze of Pentelic marble, 27.45 meters (90 feet) long, which
encircles the building over its columns, is only about forty-six centimeters high,
and is sculptured with figures in very high relief. ^94 On the east, or front, and
still in sitUf appears an assemblage of mostly quiet, erect figures, occasionally
interrupted by a seated one, and partly represented in Fig. 166. This com-
pany of gods, in the midst of which Athena with her shield certainly^^pears.
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FRIEZE OF ATHENA NIKE TEMPLE.
373
seem to be holding council over the battle raging on the remaining three sides
of the temple ; but the sadly mutilated marbles have lost many of the minor
connections of graceful variety, so necessary to the running compositions of
an Ionic frieze. One figure, however, may still be seen resting on his staff,
evidently engaged in conversation with his graceful' neighbor goddess; two
others stand with arms thrown lovingly around one another; and, near the
end, two excited figures seem to bring news of the battle in progress on the
three remaining sides of the frieze.
There we see Greeks fighting with mounted barbarians, who are marked
as Persians by their beards, peculiar head-dress, long-sleeved garments, and
trousers ; but so serious is the ruin of the monument, that some, overlooking
the beards, have been tempted to see in them Amazons. Again, Greeks fight
with Greeks ; the varying shapes of the helmets showing them to belong to
different parts of Hellas. Thus, one warrior wears the close-fitting Attic
Fig. 196, Part of East Frieze of the Temple of Athena Nike, In the Aeropolla. Athens.
helmet with its long plume, and another the clumsier pointed and plumeless
Boeotian helmet (Fig. 167). In these excited high reliefs, the sculptor seems
to intend an historical combat, in which Greeks were pitted against allied
Persians and Greeks. Such was the battle near Plataiai in Sept. 479 B.C.,
when Athenians and Spartans, in hand-to-hand struggle, met the Persian
enemy on one part of the field, while, on another, Athenians engaged in fierce
conflict with their own brethren, Boeotians, Locrians, Thessalians, and Pho-
kians, fifty thousand strong, allies of the Persian invader. ^5 The terrible
carnage among the barbarians on that day seems to be indicated in these
marbles by the great number of Persians lying dead under the horses' hoofs.
A glance at the reliefs shows their thoroughly suggestive character, for
nowhere do they venture to picture the actual battle-field. Some particulars
of costume and armor imply an historical event ; but no marching phalanxes,
soldiers drawn up for battle, or confused mMe of fallen men and horses, are
seen. Single combatants, in which beautiful forms appear, here press one
upon the other, while others group themselves pleasingly. In very few figures
is the same motive repeated ; but great fertility of composition, and many new
groupings not met with before, are to be traced. In one instance we see a
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374 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Persian, whose horse has fallen under him, being taken prisoner, while a com-
rade comes up to his rescue. No group has more grace of composition than
that in which a fierce conflict rages about a fallen warrior (Fig. 167), a subject
familiar to us from the pediments of the Temple of iEgina ; but, in the few
lines of this Attic relief, there is a pathos and earnestness foreign to the
iEgina groups, making it an eloquent witness, moreover, to the ability of the
Greek to develop the same theme into nobler, higher form. Here the body of
the fallen is relaxed in weakness, the right arm hangs listlessly to the ground ;
but a touch of nature is brought in by the other, raised, and thrown over the
neck of his deliverer. The latter bends over gently, and lifts him away ; being
protected in the act by a warrior behind with raised shield. An enemy, with
shield on the left arm, stretches out his right hand to grasp the feet of the
Fig 167. A Part of the West Frieze of tiie Tempie to Atiiena Niite. Atiiena.
fallen, fast slipping away from him. Filling up the space above this tragic
group, and suggesting the continuance of the battle, we see an Attic warrior,
with fluttering mantle, and short, girded chiton^ pursuing a Boeotian, who has
only his mantle as a means of protection.
This frieze, considered as a whole, reveals groups richer and more varied
than those of the Temple of Theseus, already considered. The compact
groups of two or three in the latter are here swollen often to seven or more ;
and the more passionate movement shows a passing from the more con-
tained compositions of the older time over to the intense pathos of the
following century.
Connected with this little temple of Athena Nike are other sculptures,
which, in a still higher and nobler degree, show progress towards the
works of the coming century. The temple stood on a steep and jutting
buttress, overlooking the broad steps leading up to the propylaia. The sur-
rounding space overhanging these steps, unless walled in, would have been
a dangerous spot for worshippers and priests : consequently a balustrade,
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BALUSTRADE OF TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE. .
375
ninety-six centimeters high, and supporting a railing, traces of which have
been found, was built around the exposed sides. This balustrade was not
left plain, but adorned with sculpture in very high relief, to which, as on the
Parthenon, color and bronze gave finish ; and the many fragments, discovered
at intervals between 1835 ^^^ 1880, give us an idea of its former beauty.^
Fig. 168. Parts of Winged Qoddeaaea of Victory {NIkea) from the Balustrade of the Temple to Athena Mike. Atkw9*
Several of these are represented in Fig. 168 as in their picturesque con-
fusion on the Acropolis. The fragments preserved, as Kekuld's studies have
shown, are from about forty-two of the fifty-six figures which originally occu-
pied the thirty-five meters comprising the total length of this frieze. Again,
and yet again, winged goddesses of Victory here did homage to Athena, calling
to mind Pheidias' frequent repetitions of Nike on the throne of his Zeus at
Olympia. As in the frieze of the Parthenon, so here, the sculptor's delight
seems to be in subtle and exquisite variations on a few themes.
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Z1^
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Athena here appears once, wearing her helmet and cegis, and seated on the
prow of a ship ; and again, with shield by her side, resting on a rock. To her
the graceful Nikes bring grateful sacrifice, and before her they build up and
adorn trophies of war. Fragments show that one Nike appeared in the very
act of sacrificing. She kneeled on the back of the*cow, and held the animal's
head with one hand, while the other, doubtless, raised the knife to give the fatal
thrust; this group furnishing a motive often repeated afterwards. Another
cow for sacrifice we see, restive, and breaking away from the frail forms attend-
ing her : others were probably once to be seen being wreathed or quietly led
on. Athena's victories are also here directly commemorated. One Nike
brings a quiver, to attach it to a trophy of victory, consisting of the Persian
long-sleeved garment and folding head-dress, raised on a post. The fragment
of a marble rudder, together with Athena's position on the prow of a vessel,
shows, moreover, that these goddesses celebrated, besides victory on land, vic-
Flg, 180, A Part of the Retief of the Baiustrade of the Temple of Athena Mike, aeeordtng to a Rutoratton bit
Herr Otto.
tories on the sea, — those, perhaps, of Alkibiades at Abydos, Kyzicos, and
Byzantium, as Kekuld has conjectured. Several seem to stand quietly await-
ing their turn in the active work. One, with flying drapery, adjusts a helmet
on the top of a second trophy. Still again, one of the most beautiful of all
(the largest fragment in Fig. i68), no doubt stood quietly like a Nike on the
coins of Seleucos, with drapery caught between the knees, wings extended, and
arms raised, crowning a trophy with a helmet or wreath.697 This and several
of the other Nikes appear in Fig. 169, as restored by Otto. One discovered
in 1880 ascends a step, as if to enter the temple-gate, a second step appearing
beyond. The most enigmatical is that exquisite Nike who bends over, busied
with her sandal, perhaps to loosen it preparatory to entering the sacred place
(Fig. 170). Poised by her outstretched wings, we see here a form of rare rich-
ness, revealed by luxurious, transparent drapery; and, indeed, all these frag-
ments show a delicate elaboration and delicious abandon, which seem to be
leading away from the divine strength and abstraction of the Parthenon frieze^
to the ravishing individual grace and passion of the following century. Com-
pare but that Nike holding a restive cow, with the youth in a similar occupa-
tion in the Parthenon procession, and we feel how here the excited drapery
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
BALUSTRADE OF TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE.
377
quivers and flutters before our eyes, breaking into a thousand varied and
curving lines; while, in the Parthenon figure, the action is full of a dignity
which overcomes the intensity of motion. As in the Parthenon, so here, the
folds which sweep around the forms are grand, but everywhere more trans-
parent. Their edges even show
a change. The undulating border
still exists, but it is not so pre-
cisely regular as on the Parthenon
frieze. The conception of both
form and drapery resembles more
closely the marbles of the Par-
thenon pediments, but is more in-
tense even than they, and her-
alds emphatically the coming time.
These figures of the balustrade,
far superior to the frieze of the
temple itself, may be placed with
the Parthenon pedimental groups,
on that radiant peak whose glory
cannot be dimmed by contrast with
the dazzling brilliance of later ages
and other lands.
That these reliefs were a source
of inspiration to later sculptors, is
evident from many scattered mon-
uments in marble. Thus, in the
Vatican, a female figure curbs a
steer in exactly the pose of one of
the goddesses of this frieze; and
another moving before her is like
her companion. In the Munich
Glyptothek is a relief in which we
see the beautiful winged Nike of
this frieze busied with her sandal,
transformed into a mortal,^ who
looks up at an image before her, and with her toes lifts from the ground a roll
Opposite to her is a stately female, calling to mind, as she wreathes the head
of the image with a band, several of the erect goddesses of this frieze.
Ftg, 170, A Mike from the Balustrade of the Temple to Athena
Nike, Athene.
We have thus far considered the sculptures with which the great age of
Pheidias and Pericles enriched its temples; we have tried in imagination to
reconstruct the chryselephantine colossi they placed within them ; but, besides
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
378 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
these great works, there are many humbler marbles, which give us priceless
glimpses into the activity of that time, and show the intimate interchange
between its art and daily life.
Of the milestones bearing the image of protecting deity, Hermes or Hecate,
and which, with pithy sayings attached to cheer the passing traveller, lined
Attic roads, we have no remnants. We find no traces of the figures of
Apollo Aigyeus, who guarded every gate, and stood before every door where
the width of the street would allow of a statue.^ But, although deprived of
these monuments, we have others, unpretending votive reliefs, consecrated to
deity, besides marble documents of state, comprising records of treasurers'
accounts, treaties made, and honors conferred upon deserving citizens; and
last, but not least, we possess a few tombstones.
Of the votive reliefs, none are more interesting or beautiful than those
found within the shrines on the southern slope of the Acropolis. Here excava-
tions have recently revealed many touching details of ancient life, and taught
us the important part played by these shrines in the world of art. On this
spot the god Asclepios was the main deity ; and here his children, Hygieia and
others, as well as Demeter, Core, Heracles, Pan, and the Nymphs associated
with him, also had their altars. 7oo
Among the ruins now laid bare, we may recognize the foundations of two
small temples, and, near them, those of two extensive porticos, or open, airy
colonnades, where the invalids seeking cure might repose, and wait for the reve-
lations to be made. Close by each, a fountain furnished the water necessary
for the treatment prescribed by the god, and for purification and ablution.
Both of these temples were little more than chapels to protect the image of
the god, and the hundreds of valuable offerings mentioned in the inventories.
The inscriptions inform us, that within the temples were metal, marble, and
terra-cotta eyes, feet, hands, and even bodies, offered by those who had been
cured. One hundred and ten eyes, as well as vases, rings, and small reliefs,
are mentioned, brought by the devotees, and arranged along the interior walls.
In one temple inventory we read, " Third row, leg in relief, not inscribed, con-
secrated during the priesthood of Lysias ;" and, again, "Along the wall, first
row, a small lekythos of silver, etc." 7o" At the end of the temple was the
statue of the god ; and that there were other statues, probably in honor of
physicians, seems evident from a base with a set of chirurgical instruments,
and from a list which makes mention of a statue of one Polycritos, perhaps
the celebrated physician of Mende.702 Arranged about the statue were tables
laden with offerings : in the centre of the temple stood tripods, and lamps were
suspended from the ceiling. The terraces about these two temples were
crowded with statues of Asclepios and his children, all gods of healing. Be-
sides numerous humbler monuments, votive reliefs were left here by the pious,
probably attached to pedestals, or arranged along the walls of the porticos,
Digitized by V^OOQIC
HUMBLER ATTIC MONUMENTS.
379
and perhaps the exterior of the temple, as indicated by points of attachment
still to be seen. Color once covered the background of these reliefs, as well as
the hair, and probably some of the garments, as is proved by traces of blue and
reddish-brown. 703 These votive reliefs, usually quite small, and doubtless the
work of humble men, were dedicated for the most part, as we learn from inscrip-
tions, in thanks for favors already received ; but a few seem to have been sup-
plications for future favor. Among the large number found, some can lay
claim to genuine artistic excellence ; and a few of them are, evidently, from
the second half of the fifth century B.C., judging from their resemblance to
the temple sculptures of that time.
The simplest and oldest of these is one found within the limits of the Ascle-
peion, and now in Athens : it is
2.57 centimeters high, and .28 r ^^
centimeters long, and bears a low ( /
relief .04 centimeters deep (Fig.
171). On the right we see a good
old Athenian, with decidedly plain
but portrait features, wearing his
every-day working attire, — the
round cap, and short, girded chi-
ton, without a mantle, — and lead-
ing his horse, whose head alone
appears. Above the man's head,
as if to fill out the space, is the
fragmentary dedicatory inscrip-
tion, doubtless referring to this
worthy Athenian himself, who,
with reverential and hesitating
demeanor, approaches the glorious trio of divinities towering up in front of
him.7°4 The humble worshipper does not lay gifts on an altar separating him
from deity, as in later reliefs, but comes directly to Asclepios, and even seems
to touch the arm of the beneficent god, who is made to look kindly down upon
him. Over the shoulder of the god's noble form, and affectionately resting
her left hand upon it, gently gazes Hygieia, his daughter, showing her interest,
also, in the welfare of the approaching suppliant : in her right, she holds ready
the vase, probably of healing drink. 705 The third in the trio, whose head, alas !
is gone, places her arm on that of Hygieia, as an interested by-stander. Perhaps
she is laso or Panakeia, who were both local goddesses, frequently associated
with Asclepios as ministering deities. What a poem of kindly feeling is told in
these few simple but beautiful lines ! Not the interior of a temple is indicated
in this old relief, as was done later ; but, untrammelled by outer forms, the
humble suppliant approaches trustfully, in all his plainness, to receive a kind-
Digitized by V^OOQIC
Fig, 171. Votioe Reiief to Aaoiepioa, Athena.
38o
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
ness such as beings living in sweet union would exercise towards one another.
These forms, moreover, breathe a grand nobility and simple dignity, such as we
have seen in the Parthenon frieze.
Another votive relief (Fig. 172), discovered also in the ancient shrines of
Asclepios, and now in the Varvakion at Athfens, is of such exquisite beauty,
that it may well rank with the great temple sculptures in Athens of the latter
half of the fifth century, the rich and flowing forms pointing to the closing
years of that time. It is larger and finer than the relief to Asclepios just
described, being .68 centime-
ters high, and .73 centimeters
long, and bears five figures in
moderately high relief. Ac-
cording to the inscription along
the top, it was dedicated by one
Archandros to the Nymphs,
and probably also to Pan, whose
name, however, is lost. 706 Qn
one end, wrapped in the patri-
cian mantle, is the small form
of Archandros himself, with
portrait features, standing be-
fore an altar of uncut stones,
such as were frequent in the
rural worship of the powers of
nature. He raises the right
hand in adoration before the
three glorious Nymphs beyond the altar, — a trio whose dignified, ideal forms
and mien are widely enough diflferent from this portrait of the simple wor-
shipper. Their gentle dependence upon one another shows a sisterly affection
and intimacy of friendship which augurs well for the success of the suppliant
Archandros, one of them already looking inquiringly down upon him. Above
Archandros' head, peering out of a grotto, is the horned and bearded Pan, a
very ancient Attic god. He shows his interest, also, by gazing down upon
the worshipper, and spreading his arms out over him. His comical shape well
fills out the empty space above the diminutive mortal.
The high, square, rather than long, form of these reliefs, their frieze-like
composition, and lack of framing, and the portrait character of the worshipper,
all are features met with only in votive reliefs of the fifth century B.C., giving
place in the following age to more generality, a temple-like enclosure, and a
picture-like treatment.
That so few of these exquisite and touching reliefs from the fifth century
are preserved, Milchhofer accounts for by supposing that the use of perishable
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 172. Votioe Reitef to the Nymphs anil Pan, from Arohandroi,
Athens.
OFFICIAL RECORDS.
381
painted terra-cotta tablets, the descendants, as it were, of the quaint Poseidon
tablets referred to on p. 162, must have been in vogue in the early part of the
century, and were only gradually supplanted by enduring marble. This he
gathers from the style of a few of the oldest votive reliefs, which seem actual
copies of painting, so flat are their lines.
But not only these artistic expressions of piety are preserved to us. Even
formal state-records on marble tablets were headed with reliefs, suggesting in a
poetic form the contents of the inscription, were it a treaty made with foreign
powers, an honor conferred on a private citizen, or the record made by the
public treasurers of the wealth of the temples. Whenever the old treasurers
in Athens gave place to newly elected officials, it was customary for them to
have published on stone, and set up in the sacred place, an inventory of the
treasures collected in the temples, and handed over to their successors. Of
these valuable documents, to be read of all, surmounted by a significant relief,
several beautiful specimens are preserved to us, all of them treating the sub-
ject in an allegorical and religious spirit. On them the goddess Athena, to
whom the most part of the treas-
ure was sacred, continually re-ap-
pears. On one relief discovered
recently in Athens, and now there,
we see her virgin, slender form
(Fig. 173) standing erect with hel-
met and cegisy and carrying her
shield on the left shoulder. She is
clad like Pheidias' Parthenos ; and
her form faces the beholder, but
her face is turned to the side ; her
right hand is extended toward a
beautiful, bearded man, who, in
contemplative mien, with hand at chin, and body resting on his long staff,
seems to be placing something in the goddess's open hand. His size, equal to
that of Athena herself, forbids the possibility of his being any mortal, per-
chance a treasurer committing into the hands of the goddess the charge he
has received from her ; rather is he the personification of the Athenian people,
the great demos itself.707 The style of this beautiful relief is such, that from
it alone we could without hesitation place the work at about the close of the
fifth or beginning of the fourth century. From the inscription we learn that
it was executed in the archonship of Euthycles, which was in Olymp. 95. 3
(398 B.C.), two years after the close of the century in which Pheidias lived.
In these interesting monuments where Athena appears, there evidently floated
before the sculptor's mind the great temple-image by that master which he
was wont to revere ; but how beautifully varied in pose and action, so that the
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 173. Vignette of Statt-rtcord of the Trtaaury. Atheng.
382
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
goddess does not seem a cold, motionless image, but a divinely human being,
full of interest and sympathy for her people, with whom she communes by
offering the hand, and looking kindly down upon them !
Besides these monuments, we have a few tombstones which date from the
latter half of the fifth century, bearing the stamp of its great art. One of
these, now owned by M. Saburoff, Russian ambassador at the German court,
was found in Euboia, and has the
tall, slender shape of tombstones
of the preceding century, but is
on a larger scale. The single fig-
ure occupying it, of more than
life-size, and leaning on a staff, is
so like one of the dignitaries of
the Parthenon frieze, as to make
it probable that this heroic sculp-
ture is the work of Attic mas-
ters.7o8
Of a different style, and lead-
ing the way over to the more
elaborate tombstones of the next
century, is that fragment found in
the Peiraieus in 1837, now in the
archaeological museum at Athens
(Fig. 174). Here the confined
space of the earlier stele has
widened. Its crowning acroterion
is replaced by a small pediment,
like that of a temple ; and its sides
are no longer without finish, but
have pilasters like those support-
ing the temple-front. Within this
temple, as it were, to the heroic
departed, are represented three
persons, evidently bound together by strong ties of friendship. Of the seated
one, only a fragment of the veiled head remains ; but the pose and gestures of
the remainder suggest clearly the near relationship of all. The man's hand,
extended, seems to touch the end of a casket we see protruding beyond the
seated lady's lap ; and the bowed head of his standing companion to look ten-
derly down on her, who probably represents the departed. The thoroughly
profile treatment of the heads in this relief, as well as the grand simplicity of
the drapery and of the faces, all call to mind so strongly the Parthenon frieze,
that we may realize, that, in some cases at least, equally skilful hands executed
humble tombstone, and extensive temple sculpture. Digitized by ^OOQ IC
F\g. 174, Tombstone RtUtf, Athene,
TOMBSTONE RELIEFS. 383
The question why so very few tombstone reliefs have been discovered from
the Pheidian age, is one that forces itself upon us. Milchhof er proposes a most
ingenious solution in the theory, that the majority of the graves having been
family tombs, and the older tumulus-like, they may have been crowned by
terra-cotta vases of tall, slender shape, which, by reason of their fragile char-
acter, have disappeared. W A black-figured amphora^ on the body of which is
represented a scene of mourning around the dead, has on its neck two women
before such a tumulus, which is crowned by a vase, in shape like that on which
this scene is painted. Fragments found in quantities near the graves go to
strengthen this supposition, as well as a passage in Aristophanes, in which a
youth imagines an old woman like a lekythos^ having feet heavy with lead,
standing on his grave. 7»o From the monuments it is very clear, that in Attica,
not until the fourth century B.C., and after the old Solonic regulations had
been done away with, during the archonship of Eubulides, did marble monu-
ments come to be extensively erected to the dead. And how much more
numerous and pretentious they then became, we shall see in taking up the
sculptures of the coming age.
With these monuments we close our survey of Attic sculpture in the latter
half of the fifth century, and turn to that of Argos and other states for the
same time.
Digitized by
Google
CHAPTER XXI.
SCULPTURES OF THE SECOND HALF OF THF FIFTH CENTURY B.C., OUTSIDE
OF ATTICA.— POLYCLEITOS.
Polycleitos. — Argos as his Field of Activity. — His Doryphoros. — Trace of the Original in Existing
Works. — Relief from Argos. — Head from Herculaneum. — Changes in Types to represent Gods. —
Polycleitos* Diadumenos. — Polycleitos distinguished from a Later Sculptor of the Same Name. —
Other Athletes, Canephorae, etc., by this Master. — Boys playing at Knuckle-bones.— Polycleitos*
Heracles. — His Amazons. — His Gods. — Hera. — Polycleitos as Architect — Works at Epidau-
ros. — Sculptural Remains from that Place. — Reputed Skill as Bronze-caster, etc. — His Great
Care in his Work. — His Treatise on Art. — His Canon. — Compared with Pheidias. — Polycleitos'
Scholars. — Other Argive Masters. — Pausanias* Account of the Temple of Hera at Argos. — Its
Remains. — Reliefs from Argos.
Contemporaneously with the great age of sculpture in Attica, in the latter
part of the fifth century B.C., the old traditional art of Argos culminated in
the person of Polycleitos. In antiquity he was no less celebrated than his
Athenian neighbor Pheidias, and is said, in some minor respects, even to have
surpassed him. 7" Although a native of Sikyon, an old centre of artistic ac-
tivity in the Northern Peloponnesos, Polycleitos seems to have spent the most
of his life in Argos, the time-honored seat of working in metal. Inscriptions
recently discovered enable us to sunder him sharply from a younger sculptor
of the same name with whom he has been confounded. Of the exact date of
his birth we know quite as little as of that of Pheidias. Like Myron and Phei-
dias, Polycleitos studied with old Ageladas of Argos ; and from the fact that
he was active as late as 423, and perhaps even 404, B.C., it is conjectured
that he may have been the junior of these masters, and that the main part of
his activity must have fallen in the latter half of the fifth century.
But quiet Argos, where his lot was cast, was less rich in great opportuni-
ties for the artist than progressive and ambitious Athens. Exhausted by a
terrible massacre but a few decades before the Persian war, Argos had little
share in the struggle against Persia. Failing to take part with her sister
states against the Persian invader, she did not participate in the triumphs
and awakening which quickened Attica with new life after the great national
deliverance. Matters went on quietly as before in Argos, and it is not strange
that we find the activity of Polycleitos moving in a narrower sphere than that
opened up by Athens to her sons. His fame was consequently not due princi-
384 Digitized by V^OOQ IC
DORYPHOROS BY POLYCLEITOS.
385
pally to representations of gods for great national shrines. Such, however, was
the excellence of his athletes, that the ancients could not praise them highly
enough. Cicero, Quintilian, Pliny, Lucian, and others, join in their laudatory
tributes. Two of these bronze figures en-
joyed a celebrity scarcely less than that of
Pheidias' Zeus, and like Raphael's picture,
the "Violin-player," were called by the
name of the subject alone, being known as
the " Doryphoros," or spear-bearer, and the
•* Diadumenos," or one winding a fillet
around his head.
Of the former, the Doryphoros, we learn
through Pliny, that it represented a youth
of manly form {viriliter puer), and that it
served as a canon for artists of later times. 7"
Cicero tells us that Lysippos profited by its
perfect form; and Quintilian says, that,
when the most celebrated artists wanted to
mould or depict the most beautiful shapes,
they did not err by following Bogoas or Me-
gabyzos, but took this celebrated Dorypho-
ros, suited alike for the palcestra^ or field of
battle.713 In this renowned statue Poly-
cleitos seems also to have embodied the
principles of a perfect proportion : it had a
strong chest, a square (quadrata) but grace-
ful build, like the dancers in the rhythmic
war-dance. 714 This master was also said to
have been the first to make the form stand
on one leg while the other was at rest.7»5
With these intimations of what Polycleitos
did sounding in their ears, scholars, in wan-
dering through the galleries, have sought
for even a feeble echo of his Canon, which
must have had an untold influence on ancient
Greek and Roman art, affecting, through the
latter, artists and sculptors, even to-day. 7»6
A large number of marble statues, very variously restored, have been recog-
nized as traceable to such an original, — the "codices," as it were, or various
readings from one original text. Such are the six replicas in the museums of
Naples, Rome, Florence, and Cassel.7>7 AH these present the robust form of a
nude youth, planting firmly one foot, and with the tip of the other just touching
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig, 176. A Copy of PolyeleitOM' Dor§pkon9>
Napiea. ^Reatorotl.)
386
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
the ground. The left arm is raised slightly, as though to balance a spear
resting on the shoulder ; while the right drops easily at the side. But in the
presence of even the best of these marbie replicas, — for instance, the one from
Naples (Fig. 175), — its heavy build, massive muscles, and gross appearance^
make it very difficult for even a lively imagination to detect that grace and
exquisite proportion of the human form attributed to Polycleitos. Happily, the
Fig. 176. R9li9f found In Atgoa,
soil of ancient Argos, the home of the master, has at last come to our aid,
yielding a small and unpretending relief which embodies the exact motive of
the Doryphoros (Fig. 176). Here, on a slab fifty-seven centimeters high and
about forty wide, we see a youth, with a spear poised lightly on his shoulder,
and combining in his form dignity with grace, apparently, stepping slowly
along beside his horse. 7>8 in this figure, the work of some humble Greek
sculptor in Argos, the home of the great master, we see, then, far more
than in the pretentious statues, the influence of the Canon so well known in
the schools. By reducing Polycleitos* bronze figure in the round to relief
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
VARIATIONS ON POLYCLEITOS' DORYPHOROS. 387
in marble, and by changing necessarily the pose and expression of the head, this
minor sculptor has adapted the original to his purpose, that either of a tomb-
stone or votive relief, and added a horse to mark the heroic character of his
sculpture. The inferior shape of the horse, which the youth holds by a bridle
stiffly laid over the hand, is in strong contrast to the grace and strength of the
human form, in which seem to linger some of the qualities of the celebrated
original it sought to reproduce. The lightness and dignity of its proportions,
its beautiful poising, as well as the rhythm and ease of the members, show a
spirit truly Greek, quite worthy a time soon after Polycleitos, at which early
date even, his Canon gained repute among sculptors, having been studied by
one of the greatest of them, Lysippos. Contrasting with it the large statues,
copies of the Doryphoros, the latter, notwithstanding their abundance of details,
and finish of surface, seem gross ; their ponderous, massive forms witnessing
rather to a Roman spirit, from which had fled the ideal lightness so pronounced
in this little Greek work. The sadly ruined head of this figure has, however, a
soft, sweet type, such as could not have been true to the severity of a bronze
original of Polycleitos' time and school. In order, then, to call back the forms of
the head, and type of feature, lent by Polycleitos to his manly youth, we must
look elsewhere. An admirable bronze head, discovered at Herculaneum, and
now in the Naples museum, is clearly copied from the great Argive bronze, and is
inscribed with the name of the sculptor, ApoUonios, son of Archias of Athens.
While resembling the marble head of the Naples Doryphoros in its square
build, strong features, and long, narrow oval, still it is more true to the nature
of bronze, and doubtless far better suited than any other antique to give us a
faithful picture of the stern ideal of Argos in contrast to the milder, more soul-
ful, faces of Attica. Could we trace on the subtle streams of influence that must
have gone out from the well-weighed, perfectly idealized, human forms which
Polycleitos placed before the sculptors of his own and the following times, then
should we realize the high place he occupied, and the importance of the princi«
pies he worked out. Of this we may gain a faint idea from the fact, that the
motive of the Doryphoros seems to have been adopted to represent such widely
different types as those of the gods Hermes and Pan, as appears from two statu*
ettes now in Paris. One of these, an athletic figure discovered at Annecy, having
the stern features of the Herculaneum bronze, is given the kerykeion of Hermes,
and is thus distinguished as that god. The other, an equally athletic shape, but
having gentler features, has rudimentary horns, springing up among the short
locks above the forehead, and a syrinx in the hand, by which it is to be distin-
guished as Pan. Thus, two close reproductions of Polycleitos' Doryphoros are
made to represent these widely differing deities by variation in face and attributes.
A Dionysos in marble, found in Hadrian's villa, and now in Rome, wearing
a nebris across the chest, has that god's long locks and feminine face ; but the
form is clearly another of the changes on the master's Canon. Among the •
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
388
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF P0LYCLE;T0S.
statues that in general pose seem a variation on Polycleitos' Doryphoros, none
is, however, more beautiful than a rare life-size bronze discovered in the sea off
Salamis, and now one of the greatest treasures of the Saburoff collection. 7'9
The head is gone ; and such are the marvellous ease and rhythmic grace of pose,
and exquisite lines of the fingers, that we
cannot enough mourn its loss. The right
arm hangs easily at the side, and the left
is extended. Like this statue in general,
is also the celebrated " Idolino," that life-
size bronze discovered in 1530 in Pesaro,
and now in Florence. This work is,
however, greatly inferior, in its hard and
academic lines, to the fresh beauty of the
^1^ bronze of the Saburoff collection.
fi" ^^BH Polycleitos* second great statue, the
/\ ^5w Diadumenos, was that of a youth bind-
/ t«iu^j#. JJ ing a fillet about his head, — a motive
likewise suggested by scenes in the ath-
letic games. Several statues in marble
and bronze, of a youthful figure in the
act of binding a fillet about his head,
bear so strong a resemblance, in gene-
ral conception and pose, to Polycleitos*
Doryphoros, that there can be no doubt
that these statues also are reproductions
of some famous original by the master.
These are a small bronze in Paris and two
marble statues in the British Museum,
the one under life-size, long owned by
the family Farnese (Fig. 177), and the
other of heavier proportions, but more
than life-size, discovered at Vaison in
France. The latter, with its massive
build, flabby muscles, slender ankles,
and surface finished in a manner more
in keeping with marble than bronze, seems farther removed from originals of
the fifth century than does the smaller, well-knitted frame of the Farnese statue,
with its thick ankles and smoother surface. But neither of them can give more
than the feeblest conception of Polycleitos' Diadumenos, which, according to
Pliny, was a youth of gentle form {molliter juvenis), and so highly prized in
antiquity, as, at one time, to have brought a hundred talents (1^117,750), an
immense sum for a single figure, either in ancient or modem times. 720
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
A Copy of Potyeleltoa' DladumtnoB.
Museum. {Roatorod.)
BrHlsh
OTHER WORKS BY POLYCLEITOS. 389
Until the recent excavations at Olympia, it was supposed that Polycleitos
executed, besides his Diadumenos and Doryphoros, five other statues, athletes,
seen by Pausanias at Olympia. It is now proved, however, from the character
of the inscriptions, that four of these were the work of a countryman of the
same name, but of a later day ; and that the fifth alone, representing a boy-
victor, Kyniscos by name, from Mantineia, was probably by the celebrated
master himself. Of this work the pedestal, with a simple moulding, and bear-
ing an inscription, has been found. 7^1 On it the footprints of bronze feet
prove the interesting fact, that the statue of the boy Kyniscos was about life-
size : and, judging from the space between these footprints, we may infer that
the victor stood, like both the Doryphoros and Diadumenos, with one foot
planted firmly on the ground, bearing the weight of the body ; while the other,
somewhat farther back, lightly touched the ground with the toes. Of
other athletes by Polycleitos, we have only the short notice by Pliny, that one
was cleaning himself of the oil used in the wrestling-games {destringens se),
and that another was nude, and striking with his heel {nudiis talo incessens).i^^
Besides these robust forms of nude youth, the master is said to have
executed two caneptwrce in bronze, described by Cicero in a speech against
Verres, who had extorted them from the Mamertine Heius.723 They were not
large, but of great beauty, and in the garb and pose of Athenian maidens,
carrying sacred utensils on their heads with raised hands. Since similar
maiden priestesses officiated in the ceremonies held in honor of Hera in Doric
Argos, it is probable that Polycleitos' bronze canephorce were originally votive
offerings from some pious worshipper to her temple.
One portrait alone by him is mentioned, that of Artemon, who, on account
of lameness, had to be borne about while superintending his work, as con-
structor of machines for Pericles in the war against Samos.7»4
Two nude boys playing at knuckle-bones {astragalizontes) were seen in
Pliny's time in the atrium of Titus' palace, and were considered by some the
most perfect works of antiquity. 7^5 But the spirit of this group seems more
like that of the age of Polycleitos' younger countr)rman of the same name.
Its composition must have been more complicated than that of the majority
of the works of the sterner, older master, depending, necessarily, for its
charms upon an intricate interplay of lines, and not alone upon the high,
formal beauty of the human shape. A marble boy in the British Museum,
from a group of two quarrelling over their game of knuckle-bones, and biting
one another, is so thoroughly realistic, and like works of the time after Alex-
ander, at least a century and a half later than the older Polycleitos, that it is
absolutely impossible to associate the work with his name.
Leaving the sphere of purely human representations, we find that Poly-
cleitos also represented heroes, and even gods ; although his fame did not rest
on works of this higher ideal range. Heracles, a hero of athletic character,
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390 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Polycleitos represented twice, — once as a leader {Hageter) seizing his weapons,
and, again, as fighting the Hydra. 7^6 Of his statue of an Amazon we know
somewhat more. The story is, that statues of the Amazons were required for
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, that spot where the conquered heroines
had taken refuge in mythic ages, when hard pressed by Dionysos.^^r The
most celebrated artists came together with their statues, to select from among
them the best. According to Pliny's anecdote, each gave the preference to his
own work ; but, aft^ that, all agreed first upon the Amazon by Polycleitos, —
the one by Pheidias taking the second, that of Cresilas the third, and that of
Phradmon the fourth place. Whatever credence may be given to this tradition,
it may contain a kernel of truth, indicating the superiority of Polycleitos' repre-
sentation of these masculine females. Several types of wounded and fatigued
Amazons, incorrectly restored, exist, which doubtless go back to celebrated
originals of the time of Pheidias and Polycleitos. 7*8 Among them three dis-
tinct types are evident, illustrated in statues in Rome, Berlin, and Paris. One
represents an Amazon, who wears a large mantle, and seems to be staying the
blood trickling from her wounded breast, with one end of her chiton caught up
in the left hand. Her head is dropped slightly; and the arm, restored as
raised, should, according to a gem now in Paris, be resting on a long spear,
which supports the unhappy, conquered woman. The second type shows us,
not a wounded, but a wearied, Amazon. She stands resting, with the right
hand on some object, now gone, possibly her battle-axe ; while her left is placed
on her head, in the attitude so often employed to express repose in Greek art.
This type wears no mantle, and has the chiton symmetrically arranged about
the limbs, as represented in statues of the Vatican and Berlin museums. As
a combination of these two types may be regarded those statues in which the
wound is retained, and the arm rests on a pillar-like support. The third type,
showing more elaborate treatment than either of the others, is as yet not
thoroughly explained; since no replica is preserved with original arms and
head. Its best known representative is the Amazon of the Vatican, once
owned by the family Mattei. Of these three types, the one of the wearied
Amazon, and its variations in the Braccio Nuovo and Berlin Museum (Fig. 178),
corresponds most closely with the style of Polycleitos, as seen by comparing
the face, pose of legs, and breadth of chest, with the Doryphoros replicas. But
all these statues have so much of the copyist's arbitrariness, and have been
so much tampered with, that they can be but cloudy suggestions of Polycleitos'
original, which won the prize over the work of all his contemporaries.
Only two representations of gods are recorded as the work of this master, —
one a Hermes, said to have been originally in Lysimachia; and the other a statue
of Hera in gold and ivory for her temple on Mount Euboia.729 This very
ancient shrine to the great Argive goddess, lying but a few stadia removed
from Mykene, fell a prey to the flames in 423 B.C. : the wreaths taking fire
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POLYCLEITOS' HERA.
391
while the old priestess slept, the rapidly spreading flames destroyed the temple
and many of the sacred images. 73° The reconstruction of the temple was,
according to Pausanias, undertaken by an Argive architect, Eupolemos ; and
the erection of its statue of Hera by Polycleitos. This figure was smaller than
Pheidias' Olympic Zeus, and appeared seated
on a golden throne. The goddess's forehead
was adorned with a stephane of equal height
all around, beautified with reliefs of the
Graces and Hours. In one hand she held a
pomegranate, and in the other her sceptre,
crowned with a cuckoo. Under her feet was
a lion's skin ; and her whole form, with the
exception of neck and white arm, was fully
draped. 73* Nearly six hundred years after its
completion, Pausanias saw this statue, but only
dwells upon the significance of its numerous
attributes, giving no hint as to its art-charac-
ter. The pomegranate, he says, he will not
explain; because an understanding of the
legend would require a knowledge of mys-
teries which he, as an initiated, is not at lib-
erty to reveal. The cuckoo, he says, refers
to Zeus* first visit to Hera, transformed into
a bird which she playfully caught ; but this
story, even Pausanias does not believe. Near
this goddess by Polycleitos, which, because
having many attributes, seems to have held
to the old style of representing divinity, was
Hera's daughter Hebe, likewise in gold and
ivory, from the hand of a younger Argive mas-
ter, Naukydes, but which, in Pausanias* time,
had disappeared. Seventeen centuries have
passed, with devastating hand, over the
heights of Argos since the Roman traveller
stood before these costly statues. It is not
strange that modern tourists have found little
more than the foundations and some sculptural
fragments of the temple. Argos coins of the fourth century, with the head of
Hera crowned by a stephane of equal height all around, can hardly give us an
exact image of Polycleitos* Hera, even though temple-statues seem to have
beenr copied on coins at that early day; but these coins may give in very
general forms somewhat the type which then prevailed for Hera.732 It is
Fig, 178. An Amazon, perhaps a Copy of Poly'
cMtoa' Amazon. Berlin. {Reetored.)
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392 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
almost as discouraging to seek for a suggestion of Polycleitos* Hera in the
marble heads and figures of our museums. The Hera of epos was a far-
seeing, stern, and jealous goddess. Her epithet, ox-eyed {boopis)^ is difficult of
explanation. Brunn conceives, that to the later Greeks this term indicated
a force expressed rather by the position than the shape of the eye ; and in a
marble bust of the Naples museum, which, on account of its stephane^ is prob-
ably a Hera, he thinks such a force is expressed. 733 Here there is no feminine
softness and luxurious beauty such as we see in the famous Ludovisi Hera,
but a very marked and almost repellant harshness : the very shape of the
stephaney of equal width all around, is less graceful than the head-dress worn
by other representations of the goddess. The eyes, shaded by heavy eyelids,
are not wide open, with the serene look of later Hera ideals, but narrow, and
far apart, extending even into the temples, and giving the expression of all-
embracing vision. The low but projecting forehead; the sharp, metallic lines
of the heavy eyelids ; the threatening mouth, with pronounced, almost scornful,
under -lip ; the large, square chin and small cheeks, in which is no lovely ful-
ness; and the ears, set higher than nature, — all combine with the eyes to
make a face, every feature of which speaks the decision and will of the Homeric
ideal of Hera, while they mark this head as the echo of a strong time, like
that in which Polycloitos lived, and possibly of his celebrated chryselephantine
Hera.
Polycleitos was a distinguished architect as well as sculptor. Among the
hills of Epidauros, across the bay from Athens, was the most celebrated health-
resort of antiquity, sacred to Asclepios, and where his priests directed medical
treatment. For the crowds of invalids gathered there, places of amusement
as well as houses of worship were in demand, as at watering-places of to-
day. Polycleitos built there the theatre and tholos. In describing this theatre,
Pausanias for once grows enthusiastic, saying, the Romans excel all others in
the luxurious richness of their theatres, — for size the theatre of Megalopolis is
most remarkable ; but what architect could compete with Polycleitos in the truth
of proportion and beauty of this work at Epidauros } 734 Among the few frag-
mentary sculptures brought to light from its ruins is a draped female, perhaps
representing Hygieia, thought to show some of the traits ascribed by antiquity
to Polycleitos. But as he was so emphatically a worker in metal, not a single
figure of his in marble being reported, his relationship to these marbles must
doubtless be taken with reserve.
All notices of Polycleitos as a painter seem to be based on a confusion of his
name with that of Polygnotos, the Thasian painter. His skill in casting in
bronze and in toreutic was great. This latter art, seeming to have reference to
the goldsmith's work, as well as to the final chiselling and finishing given to the
surface of bronze, he is said to have carried to greater perfection than Pheidias ;
and Strabo declares, that technically his Hera greatly excelled Pheidias' works,
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POLYCLEITOS* ART-CHARACTER. 393
but did not equal them in size and grandeur735 Of such importance was careful
finish to Polycleitos, that he is reported on one occasion to have said that the
work is most difficult when it comes to the nail, meaning probably when the
clay model comes to be worked down with the finger-nail ; and bronze, best
suited to accept such finish from the mould, was the material he used by pref-
erence. 73^
He is said, moreover, to have written a treatise on the proportions of the
human frame, giving the principles he had incorporated in his statue "the
Canon." 737 Here he explained the proportion of finger to finger; of all the fin-
gers to the open hand ; of the hand to the wrist ; of wrist to elbow ; of elbow
to arm, and so on, through every member of the body. Vague conjecture alone
remains to take the place of treatise and statue, it being altogether improbable
that the proportions of Vitruvius were taken from Polycleitos. According to
Vitruvius, the distance from chin to crown should be taken as a unit, giving
one-eighth of the length of the body ; but this gives a slenderness different
from the substantial but graceful build of the Doryphoros, as we have it in
the Argos relief. An accurate measurement of hundreds of statues would
doubtless yield much light on this interesting theme ; but even measurements
with the eye alone, show us the slenderness of many statues in contrast to
those derived from Polycleitos. The iEgina warriors of the west pediment
have the head usually about one-eighth of the body, and the body very slim
and short for their legs. In the Olympia marbles, there seems a variety of
proportions ; some figures being long, and others short, in the body. In the
Doryphoros and Diadumenos, in which the head is about one-seventh of the
length, this slimness, however, disappears, the loins being made fuller, and
the body itself longer ; the trunk thus predominating, giving the figure a nobler
and more stable build. In the age following Polycleitos, Lysippos changed
these proportions again, adopting a taller and more slender scale, with a body
very short in proportion to the legs.
Although, in comparison with the loftier creations of Pheidias' art, the
sternly correct ideals of Polycleitos may suffer; yet his formative influence
should not be lost from sight. Pheidias might be admired, but the very lofti-
ness of his genius made imitation impossible : the experience of a Polycleitos,
on the contrary, expressed in statues, and written down in books, was an in-
valuable testament, serving as a sure guide for after-generations. While he
did not, according to Quintilian, like his great Attic contemporary, attain to
the sublimity of the gods, still he represented the body in dignity and beauty .
greater than nature. 73^ Within this sphere he seems to have cared little for
variety, if we may believe the same writer, who says Polycleitos avoided the
representation of riper years, not venturing beyond smooth cheeks ; and, com-
pared with Myron, his works were said to be less varied, and very much after
one plan. 739 But in this limitation to one type, forming, as it were, the climax
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394 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
of the series commencing with the Apollo of Thera, and in this developing the
human form in quiet to the highest perfection of formal beauty, may we not
see great wisdom on the part of the Argive master, even though he lacked
the geniality of his brother sculptors of Attica ?
Polycleitos' importance as a teacher being such, it is not strange that he
had many scholars, and that they in turn handed on the old tradition, so that
his school laps far over into the fourth century. Pliny and Pausanias mention
several men as his direct scholars. 74o Among them was a younger Canachos
from Sikyon, doubtless a descendant of the ancient master of the same name.
Of another, Periclytos by name, we know that he had scholars who lived on
into the next century. The remainder of Polycleitos' scholars, with other
masters, were employed on a votive offering, seen by Pausanias at Delphi, and
made by the Lakedaimonians after their victory (404 B.C.) over the Athenians
at Aigospotamoi. The number of statues composing this gift was unparalleled
in Greek history. Thirty-three bronze figures of gods and mortal warriors
made up its stately bulk. Among them Poseidon was seen crowning Lysander,
the victorious Spartan commander; and the seer who foretold the issue of the
battle was also there. Even the helmsman on Lysander's ship was honored
with a statue, as well as many other warriors. It is a strange fact, that very
many different masters from widely scattered places, even from Thebes and
Arcadia, were called upon to assist in executing this mammoth votive offering.
That this group for Apollo's shrine, as well as other offerings put up in Sparta,
were by foreign artists, seems to indicate, that, in that state itself, there had
been no development, and that Argos was pre-eminently the centre of art-
creation in the Peloponnesos.
Besides the men who are thus definitely mentioned as the scholars of the
great Polycleitos, but of whom we know almost nothing, there were others of
importance in Argos during the latter part of the century when he lived.
The old sculptor Patrocles, with his three sons, Daidalos, Naukydes, and Poly-
cleitos the younger, form a constellation of artists on whose relationship to one
another the recent excavations at Olympia have but just thrown clear light. 74«
Patrocles, who must have been an old man at the time of the battle of Aigos-
potamoi, executed several statues for the great Delphic group in its honor ; but
his fame is altogether eclipsed by that of his three sons. Of these, Naukydes
was perhaps the eldest, it being said that he was the teacher of his brother
Polycleitos. He executed the Hebe in gold and ivory which stood beside the
older Polycleitos' great Hera, a bronze Hecate in Argos, a Discobolos, a
Hermes, one offering a ram, and a representation in bronze of the poetess
Erinna, who had lived about 600 B.C., at least two centuries before his day.742
He also executed statues of athletic victors, seen in Olympia by Pausanias ;
and the inscription of one to the Rhodian Eucles, is now given back to us
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ARGIVE MASTERS. 395
by the excavations. 743 Naukydes was the teacher as well of Al)rpos of Sikyon,
concerning whose statues of victors, and for the Delphic group in honor of
Aigospotamoi, we have, however, nothing definite. 744 Concerning his other
scholar, his own brother Polycleitos, continually confounded by the ancients
with the greater master of that name, we are better informed. He was prob-
ably in the vigor of early youth about 400 B.C., having been among the masters
who made gifts in honor of Aigospotamoi. 745 He was active late into the next
century, we now know; since his name is found associated with that of his
yoimger countryman, Lysippos of Sikyon, in an inscription recently discovered
at Thebes. 746 Statues by him of victors were seen at Olympia by Pausanias,
the inscriptions of several of which have also been discovered. 747
A Zeus Philios seen at Megalopolis by Pausanias, in form akin to Dionysos, as
well as a Zeus Meilichios in marble at Argos, were probably both from his hand,
as well as an Aphrodite in bronze for a votive tripod put up by the Spartans at
Amyclai, in thanks for their victory at Aigospotamoi. 748 He executed a bronze
Hecate for Argos, which accompanied one in the same material by his brother
Naukydes, and one in marble by the Parian Scopas.749 It is probable that a
marble group of Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, near Argos, and mentioned by
Pausanias, as well as the knuckle-bone players spoken of by Pliny, were also
his work; since he belonged rather to the fourth than to the sterner fifth
century, at the extreme lower limit of which we meet him. 750 Daidalos, his
brother, likewise belongs properly to that time ; having put up at Olympia a
trophy for the people of Elis, in honor of victory over the Lakedaimonians
about Olymp. 95 (400 B.C.), as well as sharing in a votive offering for the
people of Tegea, for a victory in 369 B.C., Olymp. 102. 4.75' Of his five
statues of athletes at Olympia, described by Pausanias, the inscriptions of but
three have been foimd.75* From an inscription discovered at Ephesos, it seems
that he was also active in Asia Minor, whither the current of artistic activity
was rapidly turning back from Greece. 753 One single statue, existing in sev-
eral replicaSy Aphrodite cowering in the bath, has frequently been traced back
to a supposed original by this Argive master of the earlier half of the fourth
century ; but it seems more Hellenistic in its spirit, and is, therefore, probably
to be attributed to a later Daidalos of Bithynia.754
Phradmon of Argos is a master of whom we only know that he executed
an Amazon in the rivalry mentioned above, receiving the fourth prize ; and
that, for a temple to Athena, in Thessaly, he executed twelve bronze cows, —
a thank-oflfering for victory over the Illy rians. 755
From such stray notices we gather, that the masters of Argos at this
time were mainly occupied with the athlete's sturdy frame and with com-
memorative statues ; that bronze was the material they worked in ; but that,
in the development of the ideals of the great gods, they took little part.
Such being the character of Argive art, it is not strange, that, in our marble
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396 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOa
relics, there is very little which can with certainty be traced back to its
schools.
Excavations were made at Argos in 1854 on the site of Hera's ancient
temple, which once sheltered Polycleitos' golden Hera, and the metopes of
which Pausanias describes as representing scenes from the birth of Zeus, the
combats with the giants, and the Trojan war.^s^ A rich discovery of frag-
ments of colossal, life-size, and smaller figures, besides bits of relief, evincing
a rare perfection, rewarded these excavations. 757 Among these troves were
seven heads, twenty fragments of bodies, forty-two of arms and hands, one
hundred and fourteen of thighs and feet, and one hundred and sixty of drapery,
all of which were stored in a shed in Argos. Dust and spiders immediately
plotted a second oblivion for these precious marbles ; while many fragments,
it is said, have been purloined by tourists, leaving irreparable gaps. Of only
two or three fragments have casts been taken, one of which, a small female
head in Parian marble, demands our admiration. 75^ These fragments are, then,
a stock in reserve, from which we may doubtless yet learn something concern-
ing sculpture in marble in Argos during the latter part of the fifth century B.C.
Furtwangler made a hasty survey of them in 1878, when he and Loeschke
discovered a box full of fragments hidden away in the demarchie of the town. 759
He found many faces, not, as might be expected, having Argive shapes, but
thoroughly Attic ones, and in Pentelic marble ; the architecture of the temple
strengthens the probability that Attic art here influenced Argive sculptors.
The sima are in Pentelic marble ; and the ornaments are clearly copied from
Attic works, especially the Erechtheion, but fall short of them in excellence.
A few low reliefs found in Argos in the limestone of the country (marble
did not exist there) are strongly local in subject and art character. 760 The
subjects vary very slightly, whether on votive or sepulchral slabs, and seem
to concern the worship of heroes, in which Argos was especially rich. One
class shows us three female figures walking in a stiff row, holding serpents
and flowers, and, as their inscriptions imply, representing the mild and forgiv-
ing Eumenidae. There are in all these reliefs a certain straightness of line,
flatness of treatment, and squareness in the forms, which remind one of the
much older Laconian reliefs discussed above (p. 205), and, although an advance
on them, still betray a strongly local, perhaps Doric, coloring, doubtless due, in
part, to the stubbornness of the material.
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CHAPTER XXII.
SCULPTURE OUTSIDE OF ATTICA DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE FIFTH
CENTURY {concluded).
Artists of this Period. — Phigaleia Sculptures. — Apollo Epicurios. — Metopes. — Friease. — Its Subjects.
Passionateness in Treatment. — Contrast to Attic Friezes. — Affinities in Style. — Sculpture in
other Parts of Peloponnesos. — Paionios of Mende. — His Nike. — Its Discovery. — Its Recent
Restoration. — Description of the Nike. — Its Boldness, etc. — Comparison with other Works. —
Affinities with Nereid Monument — Art on the Islands. — Delian Sculptures. — Comparison
drawn between them and Paionios' Nike. — Explanation of Resemblances and Differences. —
Colotes. — Lykia. — Sculptures from Xanthos. ^ Tomb. — Peculiarities of Style. — Statuary. —
The Nereids. — Their Significance. — Sculptures of Heroon at Gjolbaschi. — Their Subjects. —
Deeds of Ulysses depicted. — Other Scenes. — Influence of Painting. — Resemblance to Style o£
Nereid Monument. — Art in Southern Italy and Sicily. — Patronage of Art by the Tjrrants. —
Temple-ruins at Acragas. — Ruins at Selinus. — The Metope representing Fate of Actaion. —
General Review of this Period.
So far as our literary sources go, we find, that, in the Peloponnesos during
the latter half of the fifth century B.C., no other centre vied with Argos in the
name and fame of its sculptors ; although Sikyon and other places shared in its
artistic life. From the inland province, Arcadia, there are preserved to us the
names of only four sculptors, — Dameas, Athenodoros, Samolas, and Nicoda-
mos. The first two were scholars of the great Polycleitos, and took part in
the mammoth Aigospotamoi gift at Delphi. Of the remaining two we only
know that Samolas executed a part of the gift for Tegea described on p. 395,
and that Nicodamos had several statues of athletes, as well as an Athena, and
boy Heracles slaying with his arrows the Nemean lion, all in Olympia.761 In
antiquity the home of these men, the rocky and inaccessible Arcadia, does not
seem to have attracted travellers mainly on account of its art or trade, but by
reason of the sanctity of its shrines. At Bassai, near Phigaleia, among its high
mountains, are the ruins of one of these temples, once adorned with the admir-
ably preserved sculptures now removed to the British Museum. Ictinos, the
celebrated architect of the Parthenon, erected here, on the site of a more
ancient shrine, this temple to Apollo Epicurios, who was worshipped as the
god of healing, and believed to have kept off pestilence from the land. 76a
The columns of this temple, on a salubrious bluff three thousand feet above
the level of the sea, still overlook the land spread out at their feet, command-
ing ravishing views of mountain and plain away to the blue waters on the
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398
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
distant horizon, knotty oaks making up the foreground. In 1812 excavations
were made on this glorious spot by the discoverers of the iEgina marbles ; and
pieces of the great temple-statue, as well as much of the sculptural decoration
of the building itself, were brought to light. 7^3 The marbles were afterwards
bought by the British Museum for sixty thousand piasters,
Qi the great temple-statue of Apollo Epicurios, only parts of the hands
and feet in marble were found, suggesting the possibility that the statue was
an acrolith, of which the wooden framework of the body must have perished.
This statue occupied the end of a chapel adjoining the ceHuy unlike any thing
in other known Greek temples. The temple itself strangely faced the north ;
but this chapel adjoining it, and opening into the cella^ like all other shrines,
faced the east, where it had an entrance opposite to the sacred image of
Apollo. This temple, of the Doric order, by Ictinos, was richly adorned.
Flq, 179, A Part of the Amazon Frieze from the Interior of Temple to Apollo at Baesat near Pklgalela.
British Museum.
having sculptured metopes on its front and rear. These are so sadly ruined,
that their subjects can no longer be recognized ; but the fragments show a skill
superior to that manifested in the much better preserved frieze. The pedi-
ments seem to have had no sculptures ; but in the interior of the cella^ sur-
rounding its four walls, above Ionic semi-columns, ran a narrow frieze .76
centimeters high (2i feet), and elevated 6.86 meters (22i feet) from the floor,
and consisting of twenty-three slabs, having a total length of nearly 3 1 meters
(loi feet, 3 inches). This complete frieze is carved in a yellowish-gray coarse-
grained marble, thought to be from the neighborhood. It is not arranged in
the British Museum exactly as it stood in the temple, as recent studies by
Ivanoff and Lange of certain technical peculiarities have shown.764 Here were
represented, in unequal lengths, two great mythic combats, the contest of
Greeks with centaurs being somewhat shorter than that with the Amazons.
Between the two appeared Apollo the deliverer himself, drawing his bow at
the wild centaur hosts in front of him, towards whom he hastened mounted on
a chariot drawn by deer, and guided by his sister Artemis. This slab, it has
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PHIGALEIA SCULPTURES.
399
been shown, occupied such a place on the west side, near the south-west cor-
ner of the cella^ that it could be seen by the worshipper standing before the
sacred image in the chapel beyond, thus presenting to him the god in the
frieze as passing from the Amazon conflict, now decided, to the one still raging
with the centaurs, and giving assurance that these fierce powers of evil should
also be conquered.
Along the whole of the long east and shorter south side of the frieze, as
the marbles originally stood, the contest raged between Amazons and Greeks.
Of this frieze two slabs are represented in Figs. 179 and 180, but on different
scales. In the several slabs which occupied the south side, the Greeks seem
hard pressed ; but on the adjoining slab of the west, which was directly behind
Apollo's chariot, an Amazon, wounded and dying, sinks in the arms of a com-
panion (Fig. 179), as if to signify that these turbulent enemies of law and order
were indeed overcome. In the very middle of one side was Theseus, known by
fig. 180. A Part of Amazon Frl9Z$ from Ttmpit of Apoilo at Baaaai ntar Phigattla. Britiak Muamim,
his fluttering lion's skin and massive club, and in fiercest conflict with a tower-
ing, powerful Amazon on foot, and with another on horseback ; showing, per-
haps, that the myth pictured in this frieze relates to the invasion of Attica
by the Amazons, who were expelled by this Attic hero. In this conflict, how
varied and intense the struggle, witnessed throughout all stages, from the
fiercest hand-to-hand fight where refuge is taken at the altar (Fig. 180), to the
care for the wounded ! The wildest passions roused by war are expressed in
brutal actions, such as the violation of the sanctity of the altar, the dragging
thence the Amazon by the hair, and the trampling under foot of the unhappy
women ; but many tender chords of human feeling are also touched by these
intense groups. One Amazon holds her shield over a fallen sister, who shows
her anxiety by catching hold of it, as if to draw it still closer. Two others sup-
port in their arms the helpless, falling, wounded forms of still beautiful warrior-
women. One Greek, with thoughtful, careful step, and arm around a wounded
comrade, helps him walk slowly and painfully away, — a group which is found
repeated in the newly discovered Lykian reliefs to be discussed later. Another,
beyond, carries off from the battle-field, on his strong shoulders, the dead body
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400
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
of a fellow-warrior ; having dropped his round shield, which an Amazon, eager
for the precious trophy, is slyly catching away.
Turning to the other and more doubtful conflict, — that with the centaurs,
— we should find that it commenced with the significant scene (Fig. i8i) once
in the north-east comer of the cella. Here two women have fled to an idoL
One, fallen on her knees, and with one arm thrown around its stiff form, is
already seized by a lusting centaur, who tears the drapery from her beautiful
form. The other, as if in despair that even this holy spot is violated, throws out
her arms in distress, and seems halting between going and staying. But deliv-
erance is near at hand ; for the strong Theseus, having hung his skin on an
adjoining tree, already has the brute by the neck, and will, no doubt, rescue
them. Thus the Attic hero, the frightened women, and powerful centaur.
fiq. 181. A Part of Centaur FrUze from Interior of the Temple of Apollo at Baaaal near Phlgaiela. British Museum,
introduced the conflicts taken from the story of the wedding of Peirithoos.
Close upon this scene there followed, in the middle of the frieze of the north
side (British Museum, No. 4), a group in which two tremendous, rearing cen-
taurs have well-nigh buried Caineus, who is vainly endeavoring, with his small
shield, to keep off the huge block they are dropping with crushing force upon
him. A Greek, however, makes one of these centaurs uncomfortable by
clutching his ear; and behind his protecting shield flies a richly draped
woman, her beautiful, fluttering garments well reflecting her anxious speed.
One after another, still other combats .appear, in which the wild fury of these
semi-brutes is felt, even by children, who cling to the necks of frail women,
or half fall from their arms. How strongly the brute nature appears in that
group in which a centaur, over the fallen body of a fellow, kicks at an enemy's
shield behind, while he bites into the neck of a warrior who is stabbing him
in front! Throughout this frieze there is an intensity which is surprising;
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
PHIGALEIA SCULPTURES. 401
but often its very continuousness wearies the unimpassioned beholder, and
fails to awaken sympathy. While many motives seem to occur, met with in
Attica, carried up to the superlative, others are altogether new and startling.
There is, besides, a decided attempt at foreshortening and pictorial effect, appear-
ing, for instance, in the fallen centaur, and in those who seem to come out of
the background, — motives which call to mind their old predecessors, the cen-
taurs of the Olympia pediment. The treatment of the drapery, with its flut-
tering ends tortured by the wind, is different from any thing we know of
•elsewhere, except the newly found reliefs at Gjolbaschi, and seems to imply
the addition of color. Altogether, though these sculptures are in very high
relief, still they make a more pleasing impression in drawings than they do in
the marble, which is overcrowded and confused. Coming from Attic friezes
with their exquisite feeling for finish, and truly sculptural style, we are sadly
disappointed in the execution of these reliefs ; there being something coarse
and very summary about the vigorous forms, and confusing in the exaggera-
tion of the pictorial element. Moreover, the faces of all, males and females,
are imprepossessing, and have no shadow of expression accompanying the
violent gestures. As for the composition, it is impossible to find a connection
between the different slabs, which seem to consist of a number of single scenes
without the unity found in Attic friezes of this age. It is most probable, that
here each slab was composed and carved by itself, and put up and fitted to its
neighbor afterwards, this having been done often in a very crude manner, as
is evident from the slabs, even in their present state. This frieze, having so
many reminders of Attic motives, treating so extensively of Attic myth, and
decorating a temple built by an Attic master, it has been thought, must be
the composition of Attic sculptors, carried out by provincial workmen. Others
see, rather, in these sculptures such exaggeration and even coarseness of con-
ception, unlike any thing known of the fifth century, that they suppose them
to be the work of Arcadian sculptors, only so far dependent upon Attica as to
copy Attic models in some details, while throwing over the composition a
robust realism peculiarly their own. In opposition to this view, that Attic
influence was here active, some archaeologists see here traces of those older
Ionian sources from which Attica also drew, and which were strongly pictorial,
but must have been here in Phigaleia colored by local peculiarities.
In other parts of the Peloponnesos, during the latter half of the fifth cen-
tury we hear of but little artistic activity. From Elis two unimportant names,
Aristocles and Cleoitas, alone meet us. 7^5 In Sparta several ambitious works,
of which no notice remains except Plutarch's and Pausanias' dry accounts,
seem to have been put up in thanks for the victory of Aigospotamoi and for
earlier victories over the Persians. 766 From Megara, Theocosmos, already
spoken of (p. 319), and his son, Callicles, are mentioned as men of note;
and, in Northern Greece, one Telephanes of Phokis, according to one story,
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402
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
executed statues so excellent, that, had they not been as good as buried in
remote Thessaly, they would have made him as celebrated as either Polycleitos,
Myron, or Pythagoras. 7^7 Fragments from Boeotia, such as a celebrated relief
of an equestrian rider in the Vatican, very like the Parthenon frieze in style,
but in Boeotian marble, show that Attic influence must have already made itself
strongly felt in that part of Greece.
From Mende in Thrace, which was settled by lonians from Asia Minor,
we have happily preserved to us the name
and certain work of one great master, Pai-
onios, of whom mention has already been
made in connection with the sculptures of
the east pediment of the Zeus temple at
Olympia, While there may be, in the
minds of many, doubt as to the part Pai-
onios had in those temple sculptures, still
his work and signature is certainly pre-
served to us in that imposing colossal
statue of Nike, mentioned by Pausanias,
and with its inscription and lofty pillar
discovered at Olympia in 18757^ Pausa-
nias says of it, "The Dorian Messenians,
who once had received Naupactos from
the Athenians, consecrated at Olympia
the Nike on a pillar: she is the work of
Paionios of Mende, and was erected on ac-
count of a victory over the enemy when,
as I believe, they fought against the Acar-
nanians at Oiniadai (456 B.C.). The Mes-
senians themselves say, however, that they
erected this votive offering on account of
the victory that they, with the Athenians,
won on the island of Sphacteria, but that
they had left out the name of the enemy in the inscription for fear of the Lake-
daimonians, while they had no reason to fear the Acamanians." Great were
the surprise and joy of the excavators in Olympia, as one day, early in the first
season of their excavations, they came upon a remarkably shaped triangular
base in front of the Temple of Zeus, bearing the very inscription referred to
by Pausanias. The next morning there came to light, close by, a more than
life-size winged figure in Pentelic marble, the very Nike herself, a treasure still
kept in Olympia (Fig. 182). Later, much of the remainder of the lofty trian-
gular pedestal-pillar, about six meters high, on which the now prostrate figiu^
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Fig. 182. 7h9 Winged Nike by Paionios. Oiympleu
PAIONIOS' NIKE. 403
once stood, was found On this pedestal is the inscription with letters having
the form of the Ionian alphabet, which points to Paionios* connection with the
Ionian fatheriand, the source of Mende's culture.7^ This inscription gives the
cause of the erection of the statue, the means applied, and the sculptor's name
added in smaller characters. It reads about thus : " Messenians and Naupac-
tians have consecrated it to the Olympic Zeus from a tenth of booty taken in
war. Paionios, the Mendean made it, who also won, making some part of the
temple decoration." About this latter part of the inscription, and the war in
remembrance of which the monument was erected, there is much diversity of
opinion. Some, accepting the report of the Messenians to Pausanias, think
that this imposing offering to Zeus was made after the victory over the Spar-
tans at the battle of Sphacteria, when the Messenians were aided by the Athen-
ians. 77o In honor of this same victory, the Athenians, we learn from the same
author, put up on the Acropolis a bronze Nike.77> This battle, which took
place 424 B.C., would then, it is thought, give the approximate date of the
erection of Paionios* colossal marble statue of the goddess of Victory. But
others, concurring with Pausanias in his opinion, believe that this monument
was in commemoration of the earlier victory, that over the Acamanians in
456 B.C. ; moreover, the talk of the Messenians about leaving out the names
of the enemy in the inscription has been shown to have little weight. The
supporters of this latter view do not believe that we have any right to sunder
this work by Pauonios more than from twenty to twenty-five years from his
temple sculptures at Olympia, executed about 460 B.C. 77* Whichever view is
adopted, this marble statue must have been executed during the latter half of
the fifth century B.C.
But let us study the statue itself, casts of which have rapidly multiplied,
and are to be seen in Berlin, London, and Boston. The fragments of the
statue in plaster-casts have been most skilfully adjusted, and their suggestions
carried out in a very agreeable reproduction by the sculptor Griittner at Berlin
(Selections, Plate XIV.). The intent of the beautiful statue is unmistakable :
it is Nike, the winged goddess of victory, shooting down to earth through the
ether. We almost hear the rush of her drapery and the whizzing of her power-
ful wings as she approaches. Shoulder and bosom are bared by the unclasp-
ing of her thin cAiton ; and, as the wind blows it against her slender form, we
see the full grace of the floating vision. One leg, from which the transparent
drapery has blown back, forms a beautiful contrast in its quiet surfaces to the
agitated lines of countless fluttering folds on each side. The ankles only touch
the clouds beneath, through which an eagle flies aslant, his head and a part of
one wing alone being indicated in sculpture, the remainder, doubtless, having
been left to painting. Swelling out in a tremendous sweep behind is her outer
mantle, caught from flying off entirely by her raised left hand ; the broad sur-
face, broken by the wind, forming a fine background to the marble figure, which
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
404 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
might otherwise have appeared too attenuated as it stood away up on its lofty-
pedestal (over six meters high). The movement of the left hand and arm is
determined from the fragments, but that of the right is less sure. Experi-
ments by Herr Griittner, which made her catch the end of her garment with
this hand, showed that such a position would impede the movement of her
wings, and, besides, have hindered the sculptor in working out the back part
of the chiton^ which, from the preserved fragments, is seen to have been
labored upon. As the mantle in the restoration sweeps, his chisel could,
without endangering the rest, have reached the hidden parts between it and
the body. In her right hand, which was lowered, but of which no fragments
are preserved, she may have held some symbol. This point alone is doubtful
in the restoration, where she receives the tcenia^ a symbol suitable to be borne
by the goddess of victory. On coins of this and the coming age, Nike bears
most frequently a round wreath, apparently of olive-leaves. 773 On one coin
of Elis, however, she carries a long tcenia: very seldom does she bear the
loose olive-bough or palm-branch. 774 Of the head, the back and top alone are
preserved ; but these show that her hair was bound about with a tcenia. In
representing her face, the restorer has followed the general type of the most
advanced faces of the Olympia marbles, but made its details more like the
faces of the latter half of the fifth century B.C.
How bold the subject of this statue for marble, which here, disregarding all
physical laws, fairly floats before us ! and how admirably suited the proportions
of the figure for the lofty place it once occupied ! When seen on a level with
the eye, it is unpleasantly long and drawn out, lacking altogether the robust
grace of the Parthenon figures. But when raised on high, as may be seen in
a cast in Berlin, the effect of air and perspective is such, that we forget alto-
gether this impression, and receive one of lithe and airy grace. Could we
imagine the colossal statue as standing on its lofty pedestal, in front of the
pillars of the great temple, and towering up in the midst of the surrounding
green of the sacred grove, then should we be fully able to judge of Paionios'
skill in giving wings to marble, and to participate in the admiration which this
statue aroused in antiquity, as witnessed to by its copies preserved in bronze
and terra-cotta.775
But what are the affinities of this remarkable statue by Paionios, so differ-
ent from every thing of this age transmitted to us from Attica? A casual
glance might possibly notice in this Nike, with her agitated drapery, a resem-
blance to some of the figures of the Parthenon ; but a more careful comparison
will show how vital the difference. In the nude, those matchless sculptures
throb with an inner life which we miss in the Nike. The protruding abdomen
below the tightly drawn girdle unpleasantly suggests the defects, not toned
down, of a living model, but imitated closely with a lack of the nobler taste
evident in the Parthenon figures. The drapery, moreover, is in places con-
Digitized by V^OOQIC
ACROTERIA FOUND ON DELOS. 405
fused, and lacks the exquisite grace and limpid simplicity of the Attic style.
The whole statue seems more pictorial than sculptural ; and without detracting
from Paionios' merit in compelling marble so gracefully to do his bidding, still,
when compared with the Parthenon statues, we feel that a keener sense of the
truly beautiful and appropriate in marble inspired the Attic masters. Com-
paring, however, Paionios' Nike with a Nike found on Delos, and with a larger
fragment of another figure from the same island, as well as with the floating,
leaping Nereids of that great funereal monument found at Xanthos in Lykia,
and now in the British Museum, we find a striking relationship. Not only in
the repeated motive of holding the drapery, but also in its transparency, its dry
treatment of the surface, and general pictorial character, is there great affinity
between this work of the Ionian Paionios, the monuments of Ionian Delos,
and those of Lykia, which probably felt the influence of the art of the neigh-
boring Ionia. Whether Paionios actually came under the influence of Phei-
dias, we do not know ; but the affinities of his statue point away from, rather
than to, Athens ; and it is possible that he only drew his inspiration from
the same source as did the Athenians, — namely, from the older Ionian head
waters.
Passing now to consider the art of the islands during this period, we know
that many great men were drawn thence into the stream of activity at Athens,
there to work with Pheidias. Thus, Agoracritos and others were from Paros,
and Alcamenes from Lemnos ; but, of the works on the islands themselves, we
as yet know very little. Happily, however, recent discoveries on Delos have
begun to throw light on the works of this time, and also to widen our range of
vision with regard to them. On Delos, where archaic Ionian art, as we have
seen, collected so many gifts in marble to the gods, several fragments of a
developed style have been discovered, which at first sight seemed to belong to
the pediments of a temple. 776 of these fragments, one group was found at the
west front of a small temple adjoining the one to Apollo, and the other at its
east front. Furtwangler, during a short stay at Delos, perceived still other
fragments belonging with them, and succeeded in proving that we have parts
of the crowning acroteria of both ends of the ancient temple. Contrary to all
preconceptions, these were much larger than acroteria of temples of the great
time had been supposed to be. Such large groups have hitherto been con-
sidered creations of the Roman age, which exaggerated every thing it touched.
But these beautiful fragments from Delos show with what taste large groups
were applied by the Greeks to the summits of their temples, and make it
probable that to the Romans must be charged only the vicious addition of
figures to the slopes. 777
The central acroteria from Delos consisted of fragments, which, according
to Furtwangler's proposed restoration, made up two beautiful, excited groups,
similar in subject and treatment, but so agreeably varied that every t^ace^Q^Tp
4o6
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
monotony was avoided, and perfect symmetry preserved. Thus, above the
summit of the east pediment towered a group (Fig. 183), in which a powerful
winged man, having caught in his grasp a helpless female, seems to speed away.
About her members the drapery floats in the excited haste of her motion, as
she is being borne off, to the astonishment of two attendant maidens one on
each side. A small horse in the foreground gallops away, thus sharing in the
excitement of the scene. Of this group, large fragments of every figure except
the maiden to the right have been discovered ; but, from the analogy of a fig-
ure preserved from the group at the opposite end of the temple, it is evident
that such a figure was here also. In this eastern acroterioft, there can be no
doubt that we have the rough north wind Boreas, carrying ofiE the beautiful
Fig. 183, Aoroterton of Temph on D^ioa a» rostorod by Purtw&nghr.
daughter of Erechtheus, Oreithyia, whom he is fabled to have made his wife.
This myth is constantly represented on Attic vases, where Boreas, with' his
accompanying name, appears in the same garments as here, and having the
same rough, stormy character. The horse is intimately connected in Homeric
myth with Boreas, who was the father of twelve wind-fleet colts ; 778 ^nd the
animal is, doubtless, here added as his most suggestive symbol, as well as
being a necessary support for the marble form of Oreithyia, who, in the in-
stantaneousness of her motion, would, besides, give the impression of toppling
over, were it not for the firm horizontal mass of the horse at her feet. How
striking the resemblance between the treatment of this figure, as her drapery
floats about the legs, to that of Paionios* Nike !
But the resemblance of that master's Nike is still more striking to the
figures that must have formed the comer acrotefia^ of which a large fragment
Digitized by CjOOQIC
ACROTERIA FOUND ON DELOS. 407
has been preserved, showing that figures of Nike, in exactly the same pose as
Paionios* statue, crowned the corners of this temple at Delos.
While the group, already discussed, of Boreas and Oreithyia seems to have
direct reference to Attic myth, the acroterunt of the opposite end must have
been in a more general sense Ionian in its character. 779 Here the large god-
dess Eos carries off in her arms the young Kephalos, to give him immortality ;
while his dog leaps away, frightened, from the scene, and two maidens flee,
one in each direction. This draped, winged Eos, speeding away with a nude
lad in her arms, corresponds to, and yet contrasts beautifully with, the power-
ful nude Boreas carrying off the draped Oreithyia.
To gain an idea of the time when these works must have been executed,
there should be noticed the similarity in the treatment of the drapery to that
of Paionios' Nike, as well as the build of the forms, less luxurious than those
of the fourth century. Thus, as in well-certified works of the Pheidian age,
here also the female shoulders are broad and massive, the breasts are high and
wide apart, and the hips are narrow. Moreover, the eyes are not deeply set,
as we may notice in the head of Oreithyia; and the hair is severely simple in
its arrangement and treatment, as in the fifth century, but not in later times.
Such features, as well as certain architectural peculiarities of the building which
these sculptures adorned, doubtless fix their date as some time during the latter
half of the fifth century B.C., or, as more closely conjectured by Furtwangler,
425 B.C., when great festivities to Apollo, and special purifications of his
temple on Delos, were observed. 780
But with all the general similarity between these Delian sculptures and
those known to us from Attica, as seen in a certain severity of style, yet how
different the stormy speed and intensely picture-like treatment of these com-
positions, seeming in their fluttering lines fairly to defy all laws arising from the
ponderous and fragile nature of their material. In consequence of these peculi-
arities, they appear, not to have been executed under Attic influence, but show
great aflSnity with Paionios' Nike, and the marbled of the so-called Nereid monu-
ment discovered in Lykia. The tempting theory to account for these shades
of difference has been proposed by Furtwangler, that, in this family of sculp-
tures, we have the work of the older, broader Ionian stock, in which sculpture
must have been largely under the influence of great painters, in whom it was
especially rich, but of whom we chance to know little, their activity in Athens
alone being recorded.
From Asia Minor itself, that cradle of ancient Ionian art, we have the name
of but one master of this age, namely, Colotes, who aided Pheidias at Olympia.
Although as yet sculptures of this developed age have hardly been found in
Ionian Asia Minor, still, in neighboring Lykia to the south, monuments so near
of kin to those we have been discussing have been found, that we may appro-
priately consider them here.
Digitized by VjOOQIC
4o8 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
LYKIA.
Of the few archaic sculptures found in Lykia, we have already spoken, and
attempted to point out their peculiar coloring (p. 185). Far more numerous, but
showing- the same tendencies, are the monuments of a more advanced style.
This in so many points resembles that of dated monuments of the latter half
of the fifth century, that we gain thereby a clew to the approximate age of
these riper Lykian carvings. Very many ancient sites furnish witnesses to
the extent and quality of art in Lykia during this age. The long-known ruins
of Xanthos, Myra, Limyra, Pinara, Telmessos, and Cadyanda still harbor many
marbles, or have given them up to the British Museum. Gj^lbaschi, the ancient
name of which is not known, has, within the last two years, sent a stately array
to Vienna. 781 These sculptured monuments belong, not to temples, which are
scarce, but to family-tombs, sometimes built by the wealthy Lykians while alive,
as in the case of the curious tomb of Pajafa, the upper part of which was re-
moved bodily to the British Museum. On it, the inscription informs us that
Pajafa, the satrap, built it for himself and his servants.78a Many of these
tombs are carved out of the solid rock in the mountain side : others are mas-
sively built up as detached structures. Every precaution was taken against the
possibility of violation : curses were invoked in the inscriptions on those who
disturbed the dead. The tomb, when built, was placed on a lofty substructure ;
and, when carved out of the rock, its entrance was, in every case, at least six
meters above ground, only to be reached by ladders or cords. 7^3
The sculptural finish, as the tombs now stand, consists of long friezes, or
of detached scenes, sometimes carved in the face of the rock, or applied to the
exterior of the built tombs and their enclosing walls. The only instance in which
statuary has been extensively discovered is in connection with the celebrated so-
called Nereid monument, probably the tomb of the rich Lykian satrap, Pericles.
It far surpasses the rest of the Lykian remains, except those at Gjolbaschi, in
the luxuriousness of its material, and the abundance of its sculptures, now to be
seen crowded in the new Lykian room of the British Museum. The base of this
monument, having a considerable height, still crowns one of the hills of Xanthos,
overlooking the valley, and separated by a ravine from the Acropolis itself. 7^4
Fragments of architecture and sculpture, in great numbers, were strewn about
the site in such a way, that the discoverer, Sir Charles Fellows, believed them
to belong to one building, which must have been precipitated by an earthquake.
But the plan of the excavations having been made from memory, the reconstruc-
tion of the monument is necessarily unsatisfactory, and in many details very
questionable. 785 In general, there can be little doubt that it consisted of a
lofty base, about five meters high, which was surmounted by an Ionic temple.
This in many details reminds us directly of the Ionic architecture of Athens,
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
FRIEZES OF NEREID MONUMENT.
409
!■■-■
./J
^ V
as seen in the capitals of the Erechtheion : but still, it shows arbitrary and ugly
variations ; betraying, it would seem, the native builder, who, while having the
same motives, did not use them as nobly as did the
Attic masters. The sculptures are very similar in
style to others scattered through Lykia, doubtless,
also, betraying a native origin. In many cases they
seem to draw from the same source whence came
patterns used in the latter part of the fifth century
in Greece itself ; but they show a tendency to make
these coarser and cruder.786 This costly tomb at
Xanthos was decorated with four friezes, varying in
width and excellence; two pediments with reliefs;
nineteen single statues ; and two groups, which doubt-
less formed acroteria,7^7 The widest of the friezes, a
part of which is represented in Fig. 184, measures
ninety-six centimeters in height, and is in Parian
marble. There can be little doubt that it surrounded
the entire base, or podium, at about a man's height
above the ground. It represents throughout warriors
in excited battle. The combatants here are heavily
armed, or clad in tight chitonsy all girded low at the
waist. Some of the shields have a peculiar addition,
not found elsewhere in sculpture. It is a representa-
tion of a heavy cloth hanging from the lower side to
protect the warrior, — illustrating actual armor, — and
showing a realism not met with in Attic sculpture, but
calling to mind painting on vases of the fifth century,
which doubtless reflect the influence of the great
Ionian painters of the day.788 One of these curious
shields, with a hanging, is borne by the warrior repre-
sented in Fig. 1 84 behind the rearing horse. In the
introduction of such pictorial motives, we may see the
strong characteristics of these marbles, which, as Furt-
wangler with much reason believes, must have drawn
their inspiration from the Ionian school of painting.
The composition of this frieze, in single highly excited
groups of a few figures each, is more agreeable than
that of the others of this monument, although the
execution does not surpass that of the second frieze.
In a few cases great skill is shown in poses which
indicate indecision, or waiting to strike ; but the repe-
tition of the same motive, the absence of expression
I
1
I
I
s
ft
a
r
^"^
Digitized by ^
i\^\^^
4IO THE AGE OFPHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
on the most of the faces, and lack of finer individualizing of the forms, cause
one soon to weary. Close observation will find many motives which seem
direct reminiscences of Attic sculpture of the second half of the fifth century.
Such are the fallen warriors under the horses' legs, like those of the Athena
Nike temple frieze. Several of the horses seem almost taken from the Par-
thenon frieze, and two of the heads from the shield of the Athena Parthenos.
But the fluttering skirts, the transparent drapery, and the mode of warfare, in
all of which there is much that is very pictorial, show, on the whole, a style
nearer akin to other Lykian sculptures, such as those on a rock-tomb at Limyra,
a tomb-building at Telmessos, and on a tomb-enclosure discovered at Gjol-
baschi.789 Judging from the remarkable import of the remaining friezes, we
may conclude that the warlike experiences of the tomb-occupant are here
celebrated ; although it is possible that some mythic battle is intended. The
second frieze, also of Parian marble, but somewhat narrower, being sixty-two
centimeters high, was carved in higher, more square relief, and surrounded, no
doubt, the top of the solid stylobate of the tomb. It represents scenes of
attack and siege with all the prosaic truthfulness of actual warfare. Here
is an army marching in closed ranks.
An attack is being made at a city-gate
(Fig. 185). A ladder placed against it,
and held by two warriors kneeling at
its base, is mounted by very large sol-
diers ; while within the fortifications
Fig, 186. A Part of the Second Frleie from the Nereid 1 1, • j
Monument. Xanthoa. British Museum. are to be seen long-haircd men. In
another part of the same frieze, the
fortress is hard pressed by besiegers. In each of its openings is seen a sol-
dier's head, indicating, doubtless, the strength of the garrison ; while the dis-
tress prevailing within is expressed by the gestures of a woman throwing her
arms wildly above her head. Still a third time the fortress appears, but empty,
guarded only by one or two soldiers ; while the conqueror outside, seated in
state with an umbrella held over his head, like an Oriental tyrant, receives
two bearded men, who seem to parley with him concerning* the conquered.
Although in this frieze the execution is excellent, showing a practised chisel
and an acquaintance with good models, still how different this realistic and
pictorial manner of representing victory and landscape from that of reliefs
found on Greek soil. Many parallels to this mode of representation, however,
exist on other Lykian monuments as on the tomb of Marahi, now in the Brit-
ish Museum ; on a tomb at Tlos, a cast of which is in the British Museum,
Nos. 126, 127; as well as on reliefs at Pinara,79o where the whole city seems to
be pictured; and on those in Vienna, from Gjolbaschi. In all these we may
believe that scenes from paintings floated before the sculptor's mind. This
pictorial element prevails to such an extent throughout Lykian sculptures as
Digitized by CjOOQ IC
FRIEZES OF NEREID-MONUMENT. 411
to make it evident that the subtle, plastic sense of the pure Greeks was lack-
ing among the men who executed them. The scenes on this second frieze,
from their correspondence with the account of the siege of Telmessos as given
by Theopompos, make it probable that the fall of that town before Pericles,
the satrap of Lykia, is. here represented ; his splendid career thus being pic-
tured on his tomb. 791 The date of this prince is somewhat doubtful; but there
are reasons for placing him in the latter quarter of the fifth century B.C., an
age which would tally with the style of these sculptures, so akin to friezes of
that time in Greece itself. 79^ In these warriors we see the same treatment of
relief as in the Parthenon, the girdles girded far down, the emphasis given to
the lower end of the chest, and the eyes almost in full front, where the faces
are in profile. These characteristics, besides many resemblances to the frieze
of the temple of Athena Nike, in the way in which the form is made to show
through the drapery, go to make it probable that these sculptures in Lykia
are products of about the same time, and not of a later day, as has usually
been supposed on account of their excited motion. The third frieze of this
Xanthos tomb, of common Asia-Minor marble, and only forty-five centimeters
in height, ran along, strangely enough, immediately above the Ionic pillars of
the same marble. In Greek buildings a plain or simply banded architrave was
always interposed between the frieze and the pillars, thus better framing the
sculptures than here. The subjects of this third frieze are exceedingly real :
gifts of animals, rabbits, a goose, kids, besides baskets of various sorts, are
brought. Hunting and battle scenes are also seen, for which there are fre-
quent parallels on other Lykian tombs.793 This third frieze is very inferior
work, and mainly interesting as a chatty tale of the doings of Pericles and his
associates. The fourth frieze, but forty-three centimeters high, and carved in
Asia-Minor marble, is of better workmanship, and probably crowned the celta-
walls of the tomb-temple. Here animals are being led to the altar : men
stand quietly leaning on their staves, seemingly in conversation, recalling simi-
lar groups on the Parthenon frieze, and excellent in execution. A peculiarly
Asia-Minor scene is also represented (compare frieze from temple at Assos),
Eighteen men, reclining on couches, partake of viands brought to them by
male and female servants, who hasten back and forth, concerned that all go on
well. High jars of wine stand around. A dancing-girl, in long garments, amuses
the guests from her raised stand. The richer couch, with a dog lying under it,
is doubtless occupied by Pericles himself, the lord in whose honor the feast is
held. The winged figure of Nike approaching him, with hand extended, and
once doubtless holding a wreath, shows that in this scene his victories are cele-
brated. Similar festive scenes occur frequently in Lykian monuments, in which
the wife and family also share. Some of these are among the most attractive
specimens of Lykian sculpture : thus, the colored sculptures of the rock-tomb
at Myra, a part of which exist in casts in the British Museum, show such grace
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
412 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
and skill in detail, that they well may be ranked with this Nereid monument.
This Myra relief has the feast separated into three parts. In one a semi-nude,
bearded man reclines, and raises high his rhyton ; while a nude boy stands by.
A beautiful, seated, fully draped female sits in another part, attended by a girl
' and boy. Still again, other members of the household appear, each an agreeable
figure, but, in the straggling and disconnected putting together, quite different
from the compact composition of Attic tomb-reliefs.
On a tomb at Cadyanda, reliefs of similar, but still more graceful, character
occur, and show the introduction of children being fondled by their mothers.
One holds her child, as in the so-called Leucothea relief of the villa Albani ;
another presses it to her breast ; and a graceful group of four are intent upon
some game. 793a
But to return to Pericles* sumptuous tomb at Xanthos : in one pediment a
battle-scene occurs, in which a rider, doubtless Pericles himself, appears as if
triumphant. In the other, he is seated with his wife, child, and faithful dog, in
such dignity, that he has been taken for Zeus. The statues of this tomb are
far more puzzling than the reliefs. Of these, four strangely conventional and
fierce lions — two of which are in the British Museum — crowned, it is thought
by Furtwangler, the comers of the pediment as acroteria. It is worthy of
notice, that they greatly resemble the same beast on the terra-cottas from
Melos, discussed above, p. 234, which are doubtless genuine Ionian creations. 794
Others have thought these lions must have stood below the pillars, but their
shapes seem to militate against this theory. Two groups of youths carrying
off maidens are also difficult of explanation ; but Furtwangler believes, that,
with the smaller forms among the Nereids, they made up the central acroterion
of the structure, which must have been large like the acroteria of the Delos
temple, and, perhaps, represented the rape of the daughters of Leukippos
by the Dioscuri. 795
There remain the lively, swiftly moving crowd of female figures, giving the
name to the monument, a few of which are represented in Fig. 186. They
are all clad in light, transparent drapery, and poised, for the most part, in
mid-air ; their garments alone being attached to the solid earth by means of
some small symbol, — a sea-animal, a crab, a fish, or a duck, — above which
they seem to float. They are all nearly life-size, and, like the two widest
friezes, are in Parian marble. From signs of attachment, found between the
columns in the temple-part of the tomb, raised high in air, there can be little
doubt that these rushing, maidenly forms stood one in each intercolumniation,
and, "by filling up the void spaces," to use Falkener's words, "appeared to
give strength and compactness to the aerostyle arrangement ; and the balance
of parts is such, that it is difficult to say whether the statues were made for
the intercolumniations, or the opposite." 796 The great similarity of these
statues to one another, their dolphin-like leaping movements, together with
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
NEREIDS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE.
413
their attributes, which are all marine, mark them as belonging to the sister-
hood of the fifty daughters of Nereus, conceived to have sported, like true
denizens of the sea, in and about its depths. 797 How bold the effort on the
part of the sculptor to represent in marble such fleeting beings ! Compared
with Paionios' Nike and the Delos acroteria^ there are many points of resem-
blance. Here we have the same broad, flat chest, the narrow hips, the deeply
placed girdles, the open Doric chiton^ the rapid movement, and the drapery
caught up and bulging out behind the back, the addition of small attributes
at the feet taking animal forms, and, in general, the same pictorial conception
controlling the sculptor. The execution is, however, less successful, being
much dryer than in the more generous
forms of Paionios' Nike. But, because
so well preserved, these lively figures,
with their transparent drapery, offer us
priceless testimony to a stream of art,
pictorial in its nature, which owed, no
doubt, much of its inspiration to paint-
ing, and ran parallel with Attic art. The
heads, probably destroyed by Christian
iconoclasts, are all gone. 798 Were these
and the lost arms preserved, doubtless
much of the impression of exaggeration
made by the statues would be modified.
The whole female form, appearing through
the sheer garments, is thin and meagre,
and the surface lacking in enlivening de-
tail; one figure alone being, to some
extent, an exception. The gauze-like
drapery is monotonous, and astonish-
ingly pictorial in its treatment, especially
where caught up. A channel cut the whole length of each fold destroys, more-
over, whatever plastic vigor the drapery might otherwise have had. Could we
see these figures projected on a flat surface, the pictorial impression would, no
doubt, be more agreeable than it now is, and suggest antique painting, such
as the beautiful flying figures of Pompeii.
But what may be the purport of this leaping, lively throng of Nereids about
the grave of a Lykian monarch, otherwise encircled only by scenes commemo-
rating his victories and earthly pastimes i Welcker and Urlichs imagined, that,
in the popular fancy, these marine beings would appropriately come from the
tortuous bays and gulfs bounding Lykia, to celebrate these victories. 799 The
Nereids were, in ancient belief, most frequently connected with the Isles of
the Blest, and hence associated with the immortal state of heroes and great
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Ftg. 180. Thf Nerelda from the Nereid Monument
Xanthos. Brltlah Huseum.
414 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
men. To those isles Thetis, accompanied by the Nereids, escorted her son
Achilles to become immortal; there the Athenians believed their martyred
Harmodios to dwell ; but especially did royal princes participate in the im-
mortal saintship of those islands, about which sported the Nereids, in whose
company, according to Pindar, eternal life was given to Ino.^*^ On Roman
sarcophagi, where Nereids surround or even hold the portrait of the deceased,
there can be no doubt that they symbolize the blessed state of the dead ; but
so poetic a conception in art doubtless originated much earlier than in that late
prosaic age. According to Michaelis, we may consider this monument to be
the first instance in which Nereids appear as signifying the sojourn of a king
in the Isles of the Blest. Moreover, we know that the Lykians were fond of
kindred allegorizing scenes, such as the souls being borne away on the so-called
Harpy tomb.
Happily, still another Lykian monument, magnificent in extent, has at last
been rescued from oblivion. This is a splendid Heroon discovered by J. A.
Schonborn at least forty years ago. Since that day it has remained unnoticed
until the Austrians, under Benndorf and Petersen, in 1881, again went in its
search, and were amply rewarded for their untold hardships by the importance
of the sculptures found, which are now transported to Vienna.^' In the midst
of a wild, almost Alpine, landscape, near the retired village of Gjolbaschi, an
imposing wall was discovered, enclosing a large, court-like space, within which
were the ruins of the tomb proper, — a huge sarcophagus, about which were
found only fragments of relief and a part of one statue. The enclosing wall
was, however, rich in its adornments, both within and without. The southern,
or entrance, wall (Fig. 187), was elaborately decorated on the exterior; while all
the inner walls had their finish in two rows of sculpture near the top, but
strangely enough, in composition like painting, the scenes passed over occa-
sionally from one row into the other. In the centre of the south wall is the
elaborate portal, now so high above the surrounding soil that it is difficult to
clamber up into it. Over this portal were four kneeling winged steers, between
which were rosettes and a Gorgon head in low relief. Just below this protect-
ing decoration, warding off evil, as it were, appeared, as in other Lykian tombs,
the deceased and his family, here accompanied by a dog and tortoise. Fortu-
nately no clamps had been employed in building these solid walls, for they
would doubtless have been torn down in search for the metal. As it is, the
sculptures, for the most part, still faced the walls in their original position until
removed to safer quarters by the Austrians ; and so their interpretation is a
much easier task than it would otherwise have been. But they had suffered
much from their exposure for ages to the corroding sea-air and the winds of
the Mediterranean. The stone used is from the neighborhood, and porous in
its nature. Although marble-like in appearance when first cut, it gains in time
a gray color; and its grain is such that the original surface-finish, so necessary
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
LYKIAN SCULPTURES.
415
to full expression in sculpture, has vanished. But, notwithstanding all this,
enough remains to be of great archaeological interest ; showing us, as it does,
the influence of the Ionian painters on sculpture, and teaching us how those
old sculptors interpreted into stone many myths recorded in verse by the
Homeric poets, but heretofore only known to us in art through humble vase-
paintings, or crudest Etruscan reliefs.
On the entrance-wall the scenes were mainly of intense contest. Those
in the upper frieze, to the right of the gateway, represented a combat be-
tween warriors, several of whom were mounted. Possibly here was intended
a battle between Greeks and Orientals, or Amazons ; but the variety of cos-
Flg, 187. View of Qreat HeroOn at QJbtbaaehl. Lykia {Southern WaU).
tume is such that it is difficult to decide this question. Below was a hot
contest between Lapithae and centaurs, a few of the motives being those met
with in the friezes of the Temple of Theseus at Athens, and of Apollo at
Phigaleia. The scenes to the left of the door, although separated in two
rows of relief, seem to have been conceived as belonging together. Here, in
the upper row, the mythic expedition of the seven against Thebes was recog-
nized by Petersen among the sadly injured blocks. Capaneus, who, according
to myth, boasted, that, even should Zeus' lightnings assail him, he would still
scale the walls of Thebes, is here seen falling backward from the ladder, fatally
wounded by the lightning, which does not, however, seem to have been ex-
pressed in the relief. Amphiaraos, who, according to myth, was swallowed
up by the earth when fleeing on his chariot from Thebes, here sinks into
the earth, the wheels and horses' legs having already disappeared, while he
Digitized by V^OOQIC
41 6 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
stands upright, looking up and trying to protect his head with his right arm,
perchance from the shafts of the "Thunderer." A veiled deity, perhaps Zeus
himself, is enthroned above this scene ; and the remainder of the frieze is
occupied with contending warriors, all Greek in costume. Corresponding to
Amphiaraos' sinking chariot, in the extreme end away from the door, there
were seen close by the door leaping steeds and a beautiful chariot, doubtless
bearing away Adrastos, the only one of the seven who, according to myth,
survived the fatal siege of Thebes. Below Adrastos' chariot, as the reliefs
stood, a throned man received messages, doubtless of the coming battle, in
which the landing of warriors from ships had a part, prows being seen at the
opposite end of the frieze. But what mythic, or possibly historical, battle is
here represented has not yet been recognized.
Stepping inside of the massive encircling wall into the enclosure, we should
find, that, on each side of the gateway, very graceful figures of dancing-youths,
standing on tiptoe, and wearing a calathos and transparent drapery, had their
place ; while above, eight strange, dwarfish sprites, as repulsive as the god Bes
of Egypt, were making music for this peculiar dance. This dance, though
usually celebrated in honor of Demeter and the Asia-Minor Artemis, here in
Lykia had a very appropriate funereal application, being often seen on Lykian
sarcophagi, where sometimes girls instead of youths stand on tiptoe, with the
strange, basket-shaped calathos on the head.^^^
But how varied the subjects, and how extensive the decoration, that was
spread out on the interior of this great court, on each side of the door, and
all along the walls, sometimes at their top, and sometimes somewhat below !
Here appeared the favorite Lykian myth of Bellerophon slaying the Chimaera ;
scenes of feasting and dancing, which seem a reflex of actual funereal repasts
and celebrations ; besides many scenes of Homeric and other myth, such as
the slaying of Penelope's suitors, the hunt of the Caledonian boar, the rape of
the daughters of Leukippos, contests of centaurs, Amazons, and many of the
single deeds of Theseus. Centaur and Amazon contests were represented,
both on the exterior and interior. So rich is the sculptured story, that as yet
the poetic web, into which the sculptors wove their stories, has not been
unravelled. It seems almost as though the field they had to occupy was so
great, that, without any particular connection, they poured out of their store
of national legends such as they had ready expression for ; and that they thus
held to traditional types already developed, is evident at every turn. So in the
Caledonian hunt, as frequently on vases, the boar occupies about the middle of
the scene, and is attacked by dogs in front and behind. Above him Theseus
swings his club ; and in front Meleager hurls his lance, supported by the
mighty, well-armed Peleus, carrying a short sword, and by the graceful Ata-
lante, balancing on tiptoe in her eagerness, and shooting the arrow which is
first to strike the destroying brute. On one side, somewhat removed from the
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ODYSSEUS SLAYING PENELOPE'S SUITORS. 417
hard-pressed boar, two heroes are bearing ofiE Ancaios, fabled to have received
his fatal wound in this great hunt ; and on the other side a hero falls at the
feet of his comrade. Still a third is wounded, but able to walk away, leaning
on the shoulder of his fellow. This pleasing group clearly follows some type
which floated in the mind of the sculptor of the Amazon frieze of Phigaleia,
or else is a copy of it, as some think At Phigaleia the wounded man's noble
form appears in beautiful contrast to that of his draped companion, and the
two are closely drawn together. Here the wounded is fully clad, even to a
cap, and tries to support himself in part by his long stick.
One of the most unique of these storied scenes, and hitherto only pictured
to us in feeblest Etruscan reliefs and in a vase-painting, is that where Odysseus
(Ulysses) wreaks his vengeance on Penelope's shameless suitors. This scene
appears in the frieze which occupied the inner side of the entrance on the
south wall (Fig. 188, a, b). Following the story, as we have it in Homeric
myth,^3 we hear that the suitors for Penelope's hand often —
<< Hastened to the halls
Of the divine Ulysses, where they laid
Their cloaks upon the benches and the thrones,
And slaughtering the choice sheep and fading goats
And porkers, and a heifer from the herd,
Roasted the entrails, and distributed
A share to each. Next mingled they the wine
In the large bowls."
Then we hear how
^ Pallas, the goddess of the azure eyes,
Woke in the mind of sage Penelope,
The daughter of Icarius, this design :
To put into the suitor's hands the bow.
And gray steel rings, and to propose a game,
That in the palace was to usher in
The slaughter.*'
We see Penelope climb the lofty stair, and take down the bow, and see her
go into the great hall, and stand by the "columns that upheld" "the stately
roof," a "lustrous veil before her cheeks," and "on either side of her a maid."
Then we see the trial of the bow, and Eumaios take it from the suitors, and
hand it to Ulysses. We hear Telemachos bid his mother withdraw, and hear
her weep "her well-beloved lord" Ulysses, till the "blue-eyed Pallas came,
and poured upon her lids the balm of sleep." We see Ulysses try the bow,
turning it, "eyeing it from side to side," and "trying it for fear the worms,
while he was far away, had pierced the horn." We hear the suitors doubt his
skUl. T
Digitized by V^OOQIC
4l8 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
" But when the wary chief
Had poised and shrewdly scanned the mighty bow,
Then, as a singer, skilled to play the harp,
Stretches with ease its new fastenings,
A string, the entrails of a sheep.
Made fast at either end, so easily
Ulysses bent that mighty bow. He took
And drew the cord with his right hand : it twanged
With a clear sound, as when a swallow screams.
The suitors were dismayed, and all grew pale.
Jove, in loud thunder, gave a sign from heaven.
The much-enduring chief, Ulysses, heard
With joy the friendly omen which the son
Of crafty Saturn sent him. He took up
A wingM arrow that before him lay
Upon a table drawn ; the others still
Were in the quiver's womb; the Greeks were 3ret
To feel them ; this he set with care against
The middle of the bow, and toward him drew
The cord and arrow-notch, just where he sat.
And, aiming opposite, let fly the shaft.
He missed no ring of all : from first to last
The brass-tipped arrow threaded every one.
Then to Telemachos Ulysses said,
* Telemachos, the stranger sitting here
Hath not disgraced thee. I have neither missed
The rings, nor found it hard to bend the bow.'
He spake, and nodded to Telemachos,
His well-beloved son, who girded on
His trenchant sword, and took in hand his spear,
And, armed with glittering brass for battle, came
And took his station by his father's seat
Then did Ulysses cast his rags aside,
And, leaping to the threshold, took his stand
On its broad space, with bow, and quiver filled
With arrows. At his feet the hero poured
The wingM shafts, and to the suitors called,
• That diflScult strife is ended. Now I take
Another mark, which no man yet has hit
Now shall I see if I attain my aim,
And by the aid of Phoebus win renown.'
He spake, and, turning, at Antinoiis aimed
The bitter shaft, — Antinoiis, who just then
Had grasped a beautiful, two-eared cup of gold,
About to drink the wine.
Sideways he sank to earth ; his hand
Let fall the cup ; the dark blood, in a thick, warm stream.
Gushed from the nostrils of the smitten man."
Digitized by
Google
ODYSSEUS SLAYING PENELOPE'S SUITORS. 419
Then the poet describes the anguish of the falling. Alone Eurymachos
found voice, who thus pleaded, —
^ There lies the man who was the cause of all,
But now he has met his fate. Spare, then, thy people."
His request failing, we see Eurymachos turn to his comradeSi and counsel
them, —
" Prepare
For combat, then, and draw your swords, and hold
The tables up against bis deadly shafts,
And rush together at him as one man."
Melanthios, the keeper of the goats, we see stealing through the door to
get " shields, helms of brass, each with its heavy horse-hair plume," but finally
to su£Fer the ignominious death of hanging for his treachery. The poet, after
all the confusion of slaying the many suitors, makes Pallas hold on high her
fatal agis.
** From the roof
She showed it, and their hearts grew wild with fear."
The singer, son of Terpios, alone escaped. Telemachos begs for Medon,
the herald who crouched underneath a throne, —
Then
^ Wrapped in a skin just taken from a steer.
To hide from the black doom of death."
^ Ulysses goes out stained with blood, and grimed with dust, • • •
As when a lion, who has just devoured
A bullock of the pasture, moves away,
A terror to the sight, with breasts and cheek
All bathed in blood ; so did Ulysses seem.
His feet and hands steeped in the blood of men."
Finally we hear the well-beloved nurse tell of the fifty serving-maids
^'whom we have taught to work, to comb the fleece, and serve the house-
hold,"—
"Twelve of these have walked
The way of shame."
Then we see the women, ''lamenting loud with many tears," come to clean
the blood-stained feasting-hall ; and afterwards we hear of their woful fate.
The miUe of falling and fallen, and the blood mixed with the viands, are
vividly pictured in verse ; but, in the sculptor's story, we find many variations
from the poet's dread picture. We first look (Fig. 188, b) into the feasting-
hall, where single pillars indicate the many columns of the apartment. Rich
couches bear the f casters ; and the huge vase for wine, in front, hints to us
Digitized by V^jOOQIC
420
THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
their revels. By the door through which the keeper of the goats, Melanthios,
steals to bring down shields and helmets, stand, as do the Tjrrant-slayers of
Athens, the father and son, the aggrieved Odysseus in front, drawing the bow,
which must have been indicated by painting. The victim on the front couch
must be Eurymachos, who, with hand raised, expostulates
with Ulysses; others, behind, following Eurymachos' ad-
vice, hold up tables to protect themselves ; a third is sorely
wounded in the back ; a fourth holds up his garments, per-
chance to shield himself. The one who lies stretched out,
his cup fallen from his hand, must be Antinoiis. Possibly
the one kneeling, as though to conceal himself under a
, table, is Medon, the herald ; and thus the scene continues,
1 there being four more victims who do not appear in our
J engraving. At the opposite end, another part of the story
1 seems to be hinted at (Fig. i88, a). Here must be Penel-
\ ope and her maidens. The stately figure of Penelope in
i
s '' lustrous veil" is erect among her attendants; since in
' the sculptor's rendering of the myth she does not, as in
y the poem, sleep. On either side of her stands a serving-
: maid, the veiled one perhaps the well-beloved nurse. Be-
^ yond must be one of the unfaithful maids, cast down and
distressed ; and another fleeing in fright. Odysseus, " be-
grimed with blood, hastens " to the cleansing of the now
polluted feasting-hall. Not the least interesting fact in
connection with this scene is, that it appears, but abbre-
^ viated, on an Attic vase from the second half of the fifth
t\^4rj^ I century, found at Cometo, and now in the Berlin Mu-
seum,8o4 these motives in common showing that the origi-
nal must have belonged to a still earlier date. History has happily preserved
to us the fact, that, in the proiiaos of the Temple of Athena Areia at Plataiai,
Polygnotos painted the slaying of Penelope's suitors ;8o5 and there is every
reason to believe, that all these objects — the beautiful vase-painting, these
very pictorial Lykian sculptures, as well as crudest Etruscan reliefs, which
treat of the Same subject — derived more or less indirectly their artistic
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
LYKIAN MONUMENTS.
421
motives from the picture by that great master. In the vase-painting executed
in Athens, there is the most beauty ; and the graceful combination of the un-
faithful maidens there with the rest of the scene, as they look on at the fate of
their unhappy lovers, seems to give us an inkling of the power of the original,
and we better understand its influence
on all the art of later times.
On the inner side of the west wall
were two long friezes, battle-scenes
of varied purport, but most curiously
united with one another. Thus, for
a long distance in both, Amazon con-
flicts appear: then, in the middle,
comes the picture of a besieged city,
in which, in the upper row (Fig. 189, ^^, *, c), (in the frieze in one continuous
line), the besieged are throwing down stones on the heads of warriors in the
lower row, who are trying to protect themselves with shields. Battles between
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Fig 189. Part of Reilefs mhlek iintd th$ Walla of tk$ HeroSn at OJSIbaaohL ¥lonna,
Greeks, in which ships must have had some part, complete the decoration of
this western wall. But to return to the besieged city in its midst. A part of
the turreted walls, crowned at regular intervals by towers, appear in our cut,,
but not their pointed, arched gate-
ways beneath, through which the
besiegers represented in the lower
frieze press. *<^ In the midst of
the city we see the front of a
temple (Fig. 189, a), and, not far
removed from it, two throned fig-
ures (Fig. 189, b)y — one bearded,
and seated on a lower throne, per-
haps an old king ; and the other a female figure, and seated higher up, prob-
ably a goddess. All around the battle rages fiercely ; and very remarkable is
the perspective of those armed warriors (Fig. 189, c), who, seven deep, are
preparing to receive the besiegers coming up through the gate from below.
Digitized by V^OOQIC
422 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
Away from them all, one warrior, with raised hands, seems to be offering
prayer; while another, with lifted sword, is preparing to slay the ram for
sacrifice. Outside of all this tumult are, besides, scenes in which the imhappy
besieged depart, with their goods and families borne on beasts of burden. Thus
the scene, in its multitude of pictorial subjects and details, is also most clearly
an echo of painting translated into stone.
We know that Polygnotos painted, in the Temple of the Dioscuri at
Athens, the rape of the daughters of Leukippos ; and it seems very probable,
that in some of the sculptures of the north side of our Gjolbaschi tomb, where
this whole story is told, we have many motives developed by the great master. ^^^^
There are scenes of offering before a temple, accompanying the nuptial festivities
of the beautiful Hilaeira and Phoibe, daughters of Leukippos. The crowd is
in great excitement ; for from among them two youths bear off in their chariots
the two struggling brides, but to be followed by the lawful bridegrooms on
horseback, determined to have vengeance on these ruthless Dioscuri: the
father and mother stand by, distressed witnesses of the scene. Thus, although
sadly injured, these representations give us the artistic language in which
these sculptors of an early day in Lykia told their mythic lays. The date
of these marbles must, no doubt, be about that of the so-called Nereid monu-
ment, since they are very much alike in style ; but the possibility of the better
comparison of these monuments by casts may in time give us a more accurate
date. With these recently recovered Lykian monuments, we have priceless
witnesses to art-streams of which we had scarcely an intimation before ; and
doubtless study will trace still more clearly the various currents.
Turning now from the sculptor's work in far-off, mountainous Lykia, we
may pass over to the flourishing Greek lands in Southern Italy and Sicily. We
should find that the victory over the Carthaginians at Himera (480 B.C.) inaugu-
rated a period of artistic activity similar to that in Athens after the Persian
wars. The names of but two men, however, from Southern Italy, are pre-
served to us, — Sostratos of Rhegion, nephew of the great Pythagoras; and
Patrocles of Croton : but of these men hardly any thing is known.*<^ From
Sicily no names are preserved : but as, during the first half of the century, the
Tyrants made thank-offerings at the Greek shrines ; so, during the latter half,
temples were put up, their ruins and sculptural decorations still existing. Still,
these are very scanty ; and, were it not for the additional testimony of coins,
we should indeed have a very feeble idea of the artistic achievements of these
Greek peoples during this great period.^
On the road to the harbor of Acragas (modern Girgenti) was put up a
temple to the victory-bringing Zeus, its height being double that of the Parthe-
non, and its area of 369 by 182 feet surpassed only by that of the Artemesion
at Ephesos built in the following century.^'® When, in 405 B.C., the opulent
Digitized by V^OOQ IC •
SCULPTURES FROM SELINUS.
423
people of Acragas were conquered by the Carthaginians, this great temple,
which was well-nigh completed, was destroyed. In the pediments, however,
had been carved groups, which, according to Diodoros, concerned the siege
of Troy and the battles with the giants. Each individual figure was character-
ized ; but the fragments are so mutilated, that the different heroes can no longer
be recognized ; and we can only admire the grand, free treatment of the forms,
although they are in the common limestone of the country. Besides these
sculptures, there stood against pilasters of the ground-floor colossal giants^
their heads bent forward, and arms behind their necks, upholding the protrud-
ing roof of the cella sacred to the great conqueror of the giants (Fig. 114).
One of these unwilling servants of
Zeus now lies prostrate among the im-
posing temple-ruins, behind which rises
the purple and smoking iEtna, while in
front rolls and plashes the sparkling
blue sea. How admirably the forced
service of this rebellious giant is ex-
pressed, astonishing the modern trav-
eller by the adaptation of his strained,
huge limbs to his heavy task, his eyes
cast down, and his hair severely regu-
lar! The contrast is most striking,
between his burdened form and the
free and easy but dignified bearing of
the maidens of the Erechtheion at
Athens.
Besides these colossal architectural
sculptures from pediment and cella^ may be mentioned a stone fragment of a
medalhon-like relief in grand style, found in the sea near Girgenti, and now
in the British Museum. It represents a male and a female head, perhaps the
helmeted Pelops and veiled Hippodameia, who were specially honored in Sicily.
At Selinus, also, there was much carving at this time; and the erection
of a treasury at Olympia, the ruins of which have been found, shows there,
too, the work of Sicilian artists. From the temples at Selinus, built before the
destruction of the city in 409 B.C., we need mention only two or three metopes,
now in Palermo, which reveal a strange union of archaic stiffness in drapery with
freedom in the treatment of the face, as well as a curious manipulation of the
stone. Thus, in those subjects where fair women appear, their faces, hands,
and feet are rendered in white marble, superadded to the coarse limestone in
which the remainder is executed, and remind one of the similar treatment of
the female form on black -figured vases. All the peculiarities of these sculp-
tures may be well seen in that metope where Hera in bridal beauty appears
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
Metope from Selinus. Actaton deoourtd bif
hia Hounds, Paiermo,
424 THE AGE OF PHEIDIAS AND OF POLYCLEITOS.
before Zeus, and in the one where Artemis watches the deserved fate of the
hunter Actaion (Fig. 190). According to one story, for boasting that he could
surpass the skill of this huntress-goddess, and according to another, for daring
to watch her as she bathed, Artemis turned Actaion into a stag, to be torn in
pieces by his own pack of fifty hounds. In the sculpture we see many of them
falling upon him ; but his form is still purely human, — a fine contrast to the
stiff drapery of the goddess. In the heavy forms and general conception, we
arei moreover, strongly reminded of the style of the still older Selinus sculp-
tures, of which these seem the natural outgrowth. With these metopes found
in Selinus, we close our survey of Greek sculpture developed during the latter
half of the fifth century B.C.
On reviewing the whole field for that age, we see that art stood on very
different levels at the same time in different parts of the ancient Greek world.
We find that Athens first, and then Argos, were the centres of artistic influ-
ence. By Athenians the lofty ideals of a Zeus, Athena, and Asclepios were
incorporated in numerous chryselephantine and marble statues ; and in Argos
the athlete's sturdy form in bronze was perfected, and a canon of proportions
for the human frame established. The remains of temple sculptures showed
deeper, intenser passion beginning to be expressed ; but in the faces of gods,
goddesses, heroes, and men, we saw written only the noble being of the soul,
not its varying and fleeting emotions. We have seen a grandeur and power-
fulness of build for male and female forms, and a noble simplicity in drapery,
which characterized this age alone, and was in perfect harmony with its
sublime ideals.
But the broad field of human passion and individualism was not yet entered
upon, and many new ideals of gods and goddesses were still to be developed
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